A name among the stars
by lexiepedia
Summary: Things have finally started to return back to normal after the war, but for Hermione nothing will ever be the same again. It has never been a secret that she was adopted, and it was something she had come to accept a long time ago. But her biological family's sudden turn up and wanting to be apart of her life is a little tougher to swallow. And what happens when the world finds out
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Hermione Granger has always known that she was adopted, it was not something her parents had kept a secret. When she was little girl old enough to understand, already at the age of seven, her parents had sat down with her at their old kitchen table and explained to her that you didn't have to be related by blood to call yourself a family. Now Hermione wouldn't be Hermione if she didn't have a lot of question, but once they were out of the way the issue was no more.

As the years passed and she grew older, Hermione more fully understood the meaning of what her parents had told her that day. It was simply obvious to her that it didn't matter that she and her parents didn't share the same blood, but that did not not make them her parents. They loved each other, cared for each other, and that was more than enough. There were families out there in the world who tries to kill each other, despite being blood related. Blood didn't change things. It might bring on obligations and bonds, but in the end it really didn't matter.

So the girl who had been found by the director on the doorstep of a muggle-orphanage grew up in a light grey house with a white picket fence, thinking she was just another muggleborn witch who got her Hogwarts letter delivered when she was eleven.

The truth was that she had no earthly idea who her biological parents were. For all she knew she could be a muggleborn, which seemed like the most likely option since had been dropped off at a muggle-orphanage, or she could be a half-blood or even a pureblood. Despite being perfectly happy with her life, Hermione couldn't help but be a little curious to find out who she was and where she came from. But every time she would ask her parents about it she got the same response that she always got.

"I'm sorry Darling! The records says parents unknown."

At times the thought of her biological parents made her bitter. Had they really cared so little about her that they didn't care to know her at all? Not only had they left her no information that could someday lead her to them and then they had dumped her on the doorstep in the cover of darkness. In her more mature moments though, she realized that she couldn't judge them. She didn't know them or their reasons, she had no idea what kind of life they had. They might just have been trying to give her the best chance at life.

But lately it had been on her mind a lot more and she had gotten a lot more curious about who her biological parents were. The main reason for the newfound curiosity was the loss of her parents who she had sent off to Australia with no recollection of her whatsoever.

When things had started to quieten down after the battle, she and a ministry official had gone down to Australia to bring them home. But when they finally found them it had proved to be impossible to restore their memories without causing some permanent damage. She had let them be. They had looked so happy in their little house by the beach that she didn't have the heart to take that away from them. She had returned to the Burrow that very same day with a sad smile on her face.

The Burrow was the same lively and merry place as it had always been. Fred had only just survived the battle of Hogwarts. After almost two months in 's he had returned back to normal and ran around the house pranking everyone who dared to enter the house. Harry and Ginny were going strong and had been making the most of the down time since the battle to enjoy each other's company. Ron had grown close to Gabrielle, Fleur's younger sister, her the summer and was spending a lot of time with her at Seashell cottage. Even Molly and Arthur seemed to have grown closer over the last few months.

Everyone had that special someone that they could rely on and share the burden of the war with. Everyone except for her.

It was not that the Weasley's didn't welcome her with open arms, because they did. Both her and Harry had gotten a room of their own at the Burrow. Harry had gotten Bill and Charlie's old room and she had gotten Percy's. The problem was that she didn't feel like she belonged there as much as she used to. Everyone was off in their own little world and had easily fallen back in old patterns, but she hadn't.

Harry and Luna were the only two persons she would even consider to open up to, both of them knew what she was going through. She and Harry had spent several months on the hunt for Horrocruxes, just the two of them, and during that time many secrets had been revealed in the privacy of their tent. Luna and she had gone through the same kind of pain. They had both been at the mercy of Bellatrix Lestrange and her wand and knew the nightmares that haunted them both at night.

When everyone looked for comfort in their significant other, she looked for comfort elsewhere, in finding her biological parents. She imagined that it would bring her something to hold on to, a place where she belonged. And that's how Harry found her, sitting on the couch in the living room of the Burrow with her worn out manila folder that held all the information she had about her past.

"What are you doing?" he asked curiously as he walked into the room and took a seat next to her on the couch.

"Where's Ginny?" she was surprised to not see the red haired girl with him, it was certainly a rarity these days.

"She went to see Bill and the kids."

"You didn't want to go with her? To see Teddy?"

"No. I thought I would see how my best friend is doing."

He said it so casually as he slung his arm around her shoulders, like it was the most natural thing in the world, but she could tell by the slight pitch in his voice that he was worried. Hermione smiled lightly at him and let him pull her into his chest. There really was no better comfort when she was upset than her best friends arms, he always made her feel so safe when he held her.

She didn't trust her own voice, positive that it would betray her emotional state, so instead she handed him the picture she had been watching. It was a picture of her and her parents the summer after her fifth year. The three of them had gone to their usual place in France to give her some peace and quiet to rest up and gather her strength after the incident at the ministry and the Department of Mysteries. They had been so happy then, all three of them sported big smiles as they looked into the camera.

"I turn nineteen three weeks after we start school. The age I should be after finishing school. I will inherit everything. The money, the house, the practice… because in the eyes of the law Jean and Mark Granger no longer exist. They died in a car accident coming home from work." tears slipped out of her eyes as she spoke. It hurt to think of her parents as dead.

Harry lay the picture down on the coffee table and gathered her up more tightly in his arms as he made them more comfortable on the couch.

"Are you sure you want to go back to school, Hermione? We can take another year off, people would still gladly hire you whenever you're ready."

No!" she shook her head and her hand grabbed a hold of his shirt tightly. I need to do this Harry. I need something normal back into my life. Everything around me is changing so fast and I don't even know who I am anymore… I might not have died on the battlefield, but something inside of me did. It will never be the same, I can't go back."

"I know." he agreed sadly and she knew that deep down Harry was dealign with the same thing. Ginny might now be a permanent part of his life and he no longer had a death threat hanging over his head, but that is all he has ever known and it is hard to adjust after living your life a certain way for so long.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Hermione tried to stumble as gracefully as she could out of the fireplace and onto the cobbled street of Diagon Alley. The floo-network might be the more comfortable way to travel, but you certainly did not look your best when you arrived.

When she was sure that she had regained her balance, she quickly moved out of the way to leave the path free for Harry, Ginny and Ron. Looking around the alley she felt positively giddy inside. It felt just like it did the day she went here with her parents for her first year at Hogwarts.

During the war the entire alley got demolished. Every shop had been ransacked before it was burnt down to the ground. Some shopkeepers had even been captured by Death Eaters and tortured for information, like Mr Ollivander. Now though, it was back in full swing and restored to it's former glory. The stores had all been rebuilt and the place was swarming with good spirited people. First years were running in and out of Ollivander's showing off their new wands to their friends and families and a large, mixed crowd had gathered outside the Quidditch shop, pressed up close against the glass, swooning over the newest broom.

The happy music, the kind you would hear at a circus or a fare, that streamed out of the speakers on tops of the colorful building that housed Weasley's Wizard Wheezes matched the sunny summer day. The sight actually managed to put the real first smile on her face in what felt like forever, or at least since before the beginning of the war.

Ginny came up next to her and put her arm through Hermione's. The red haired witch was as entranced by the sight as she was. It was absolutely beautiful.

"Incredible, huh?" the red haired girl sighed softly.

"It's amazing!"

Hermione could hear Ron an Harry's agreement coming from behind them, but her attention was solely on the most amazing store of them all. Flourish and Blotts. The golden sign hanging outside the door glinted in the sunlight and the beautiful window filled with all kinds of books drew her in.

"Uh oh, we have lost her already!" Ron teased.

"Oh stop it Ron! Like you won't be over by the Quidditch shop, drooling like every other blokes within five minutes." At Ginny's comeback Ron grew quiet for a change.

Hermione lead the group across the street to bookstore without another word. As the door closed behind them, she came to a complete stop. The store had her in awe and made her all warm and giddy inside. Every wall of the shop was lined up with bookshelf after bookshelf filled to the brim with a mix of new and old books. It was definitely her version of heaven.

Harry noticed her joy and let her walk around on her own and get lost in the world of books. Many things might have changed for her over the last couple of months but not her love for books. Hermione made her way deeper and deeper into the shop, picking up books as she went. There was every kind of book you could imagine. From large tombs to small pocket books, from brand new directly from the printers to old ones dating back several centuries, from house holding spells and romance novells to the darkest magic that had ever existed. A lot of the books were ones she had already read, but there were a lot that she had never seen before. Most importantly though, it had the newest edition of Hogwarts - a history.

She was so wrapped up in her own world that she did not even bother to look up to see where she was going. Suddenly she walked into something solid and would have landed on her are if it had not been for the two strong arms that caught her and helped her regain her balance.

"I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed before bending down to pick up the books she had dropped in the collision. Another pair of hands joined her on the floor and handed her the remaining books.

"It's alright. No harm done." startled Hermione looked up at the owner of the masculine voice, but accepted his offered his hand to help her up. The person she had run into was no one other than Blaise Zabini, the Slytherin prince Draco Malfoy's best friend.

While Malfoy had done nothing but torture her the entire time they were at school, teasing her and throwing nasty comments her way at every chance he got, Blaise had actually been alright. When she thought about it, he had never really done anything towards her. He just stood in the back, looking bored as he waited for his friends to be done so that they could get to class. Whenever she had run into him alone he would even say hello and smirk. No snide remarks, no shoving, no nothing.

Despite that, Hermione couldn't stop herself from taking a step back and hug her books close to her chest. It was a natural reaction, an instinct, and something she had come to do after the war as a way to shield herself.

"Wow, that's a lot of books!" he said as he looked her up and down. "Are you trying to build your own library?"

"Just a bit of light reading to keep me busy" she said bashfully and looked up at him sheepishly, only then noticing his own stack of books. "You seem to have your own collection there as well."

"True!" he laughed, a genuine and carefree laughter.

It was a strange sight, she had never seen a Slytherin act so carefree in all her time at Hogwarts. He might not have taken the dark mark, Blaise was actually one of the few Slytherins in their year that didn't, but he still had the burden of the dark side on his shoulders. He was living amongst the people who followed the darkest wizard of all time, they had been moving in his social circles. It was a fine line to walk.

"Hermione!" rang through the shop and found her ears among the bookshelves.

A look down at her wristwatch told her that she had been in there for over an hour already and that her friends were most likely bored out of their minds.

"It was good seeing you Hermione."

"You too." she smiled politely at Blaise and turned around to search for her friends.

After everyone payed for their schoolbooks and Hermione for her load, they all left the shop together. The next stop was Madam Malkin's. All four of them were in need of both school and dress robes.

Even Ron and Ginny were buying brand new ones that were tailored for their measurements. That had all received a large sum of money from the Ministry for their efforts during the war and the Weasley's were now what you would call rich. But despite now being well off, they didn't flaunt it. They still lived the same simple life they always had, but enjoyed being able to buy things they couldn't before, like new robes. Though Ron could get carried away at times. Especially when he entered the Quidditch shop.

They were all pinched and probed to the inch of their sanity by the witches that were running around them, chattering madly to each other about this and that. Within half an hour the four of them walked out of the store with a bag of robes. As Ron and Harry made their way, Hermione dragged Ginny with her in the opposite direction.

Crookshanks had been killed when the Death Eaters attacked the Burrow during Bill and Fleur's wedding almost more than a year ago now and Hermione thought that it was time she got herself a new familiar.

The windows of Magical Menagerie were full of cages that held different types of animals. Cats in different colors, owls with beady eyes and toads in all different sizes. Hermione however had her eyes on another cat, a buddy to cuddle with as she lay on the couch in front of the fireplace and read a book or just to make her feel a little better when she was sad. And out of all the little kittens the store owner showed her, there was one particular little fellow that caught her eye.

In the furthest corner of the cage sat a small, white kitten with a patch of black at the top of its head and that covered one of its ear and moved down to its eye. It was the most adorable creature Hermione had seen in a really long time. With a big goofy smile she pointed at the kitten.

"That one, in the corner." The old store owner smiled kindly at her and lifted the kitten out of the cage and handed it over.

"This little fellow is the last of his siblings. He could definitely need someone to look after him."

Hermione took the kitten into her arms and let it make it self comfortable in her embrace, placing its paws on her chest and buffing its head under her chin. It was love at first sight. She and Ginny were positively gushing over her new little friend as they met up with Harry and Ron, who were both carrying a packet under their arms.

"Are you done?" Ron asked. "Mom's putting on a big spread at home for our last night at home and I am starving!"

"Of course you are!" laughed Harry as he grabbed Ginny's hand and started to walk towards the floo.

And true to her word, Molly had put on a real spread for their last night at home before they returned to school. She had cooked every person's favorite and than some. Shepards pie, grilled chicken, mashed potatoes and several very good looking deserts were just the naming a few.

For the first time in a long time Hermione actually felt like she could enjoy it and join in on the fun, maybe going back to Hogwarts is exactly what she needed.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"Come on, hurry up or you are going to miss the train!" Molly Weasley's voice rang through the entire King's Cross Station. A lot of things has changed over the past few years, but there were some things that would never change.

Hermione felt a bit silly to still be escorted to the Hogwarts express by the Weasley matriarch. She was now technically an adult, she had survived a war, been tortured by a mad woman and had a throw down with an enormous Basilisk, yet they still didn't trust her to make it to the train to school on time. According to her watch it was five to eleven and they had yet to make it onto the platform. Had she gone on her own Hermione was sure she would already be on the train, holding a compartment for her late-arriving friends.

The morning of the first day of school has always been a chaotic event at the Burrow. Every single year the clan managed to be late and just make it in time to jump on the train before it started to roll down the platform. This year Hermione thought that it would be different considering they were now all adults and not as many of them, but she had been sadly mistaken. This morning when she came downstairs things were a mess. People had overslept, things had yet to be packed into trunks and familiar where running, flying all over the place. It had been the definition of chaos and that is why they were now all running like they were escaping Snatchers to make the train.

When they reached the barrier between platforms nine and ten, they all rushed through one by one. First Harry then Ron, Hermione and Ginny. On the platform, they had to struggle to get through the crowd of parents who were there to wave goodbye to their children.

Over the course of the last year Harry and Ron had both built up, they were no longer the scrawny little boys they had once been, and used their combined strength to quickly carry all of their luggage onto the train. All that was left for Hermione and Ginny to do was to jump onto the train. And just in time too.

The second they all stood with their two feet on the train the doors closed behind them and then the train started to slowly roll down the platform. They had made it just in time.

Hermione leaned against the wall as she tried to catch her breath. The run had taken a lot of her energy, but she supposed that she had no one but herself to blame. It had been a while since she had properly worked out. Ron and Ginny seemed to be just fine, so the two of them disappeared down the corridor in search for a compartment for the four of them. Harry stayed behind and looked her at with a big smirk on his face.

"Are you coming or what?"

"You go ahead, I'll catch up." she wheezed out between breaths.

"You're sure you'll make it?" he laughed.

"Just go!" Harry picked up his trunk and ran after Ginny and Ron with a laugh that echoed back to where she stood.

It took a few more minutes for Hermione to collect herself before she could pick up her trunk and go off to find her friends. As she walked further down the train she looked into every compartment window, only to come up empty every time. After a whole fifteen minutes of fruitless search, Hermione gave up and dropped her trunk to the floor. Where could they have possibly disappeared to?

She stood out in the corridor and contemplated what to do. If she should just stay out here or try to find a less crowded compartment and take her chances.

"Granger?" turning around at the familiar voice Hermione came face to face, once again, with Blaise Zabini. "We keep meeting like this with you lost in your thoughts. What are you doing standing out here?"

"I can't seem to find Harry and the others."

"Why don't you come and sit with me? It's just Draco and I." Blaise smiled at her with that friendly smile that totally disarmed her.

"Oh, I don't think that's such a good idea!" Hermione laughed nervously. "Malfoy and I have never quite gotten along if you haven't noticed. I doubt a war will change that."

"You'd be surprised. Come on."

Blaise picked up her trunk and put a hand on her lower back to steer her in the right direction. She reluctantly let him lead her two doors down where she could indeed see Draco Malfoy sitting next to the window. The door slid open and Blaise gave her nudge to move before entering behind her.

"Look who I found mate!" Blaise said and caught his attention. He quickly looked up from his book and turned towards their new company.

"Granger." he nodded. "Everything alright?"

"Malfoy."

Hermione walked hesitantly over to the seat opposite Malfoy as Blaise placed her trunk on the rack above their heads before taking the seat next to her. Malfoy marked his place in the book he was reading and started to chit chat with Blaise.

Neither of the boys forced her to join in on the conversation, something she appreciated greatly since it would be very awkward considering that she had no idea how to act around the two boys. Not once in a million years had she imagined her sitting on the Hogwarts Express with two Slytherins. Yet here she was.

To her surprise Malfoy was actually cordial. There were no snide remarks or taunts, but there were no empty promises of starting over and forgetting all the bad blood between them. It would be impossible for them to ever start over, they had way too much history for that, but there was a new sense of respect for one and other and a silent promise of truce. And that was something Hermione held in higher regard than starting over, they were moving on and they were both acting like bigger persons.

Hermione tucked up her legs under her on the seat and made herself comfortable as she watched the two boys interact. They were so at ease and relaxed, even Malfoy. It was completely different from how she was used to see them behave, it was like they could finally be themselves behind closed doors where they didn't have to live up to any expectations, good or bad. It was nice, different.

And that is how she spent the rest of the trip, just watching and listening to boys as they talked, laughing every now and again when one of them said something funny.

"So… what are you doing these days Granger?" Hermione looked at Malfoy but she couldn't find a single trace of malice on his face, he looked just as relaxed as he had a minute ago as he spoke to Blaise. And while she might have been happy to not be directly involved in the conversation in the beginning, she wasn't about to throw this back in his face.

"I stay at the Burrow with everyone else, just taking it day by day I guess. We don't really do much."

"You live at the Burrow now?" Blaise asked. "What about your parents?" his eyebrows were raised and a dark emotion that Hermione couldn't name fluttered across his face.

"They-th… They are not.." she struggled to find the right words. How was she supposed to explain something she didn't fully understand herself yet?

"Merlin Granger, they are not dead right?!" Malfoy exclaimed and she could feel how Blaise went stiff next to her, obviously afraid he had put his foot in it.

"No but they are as good as."

"What do you mean, as good as?"

"At the beginning of the war, right before I took off with Harry and Ron, I modified their memories. I made them forget about who they were and I made them forget that they ever had a daughter, that they ever had me." she didn't know why she was telling the two boys this. They weren't friends and she barley spoken more than two kind words to them, but something about them just made her want to spill their guts. Maybe it was their confident, secure demeanour or maybe she longed to talk to someone about this besides herself. "They left for Australia and when I went to find them a couple of months ago it was too late. It proved to be too risky to reverse the magic, it would create too much damage. So, I let them be and left Australia on my own."

Something wet and warm was slowly making its way down her cheek and Hermione tried to discreetly wipe it away, but both Blaise and Malfoy saw it. For a second it looked like Blaise might try to embrace her but something seemed to stop him and Draco looked to be struggling with something before he chose to speak.

"I'm so sorry Hermione!"

She couldn't for the life of her understand why the two boys would try to comfort her, but this was the first time that Draco Malfoy had ever spoken her first name so maybe what Blaise had said earlier was true. Perhaps the war had changed everything and that things aren't always as clear cut as they seem.

It couldn't have been easy to live among mad men and the Dark Lord himself and have relatives like Bellatrix Lestrange. And when she thought about it all of the Malfoys had proven them all wrong and done what they could to help without getting caught and killed themselves. Narcissa helped to cover for Harry. Draco had helped them escape the Malfoy manor by throwing them their wands. And Lucius Malfoy had taken down several Death Eaters from behind the enemy line and saving all of their lives.

After the war many people had questioned their motives, saying that they had only done it to save their own skins. But both Snape's memories, that he had given Harry on what he thought was his death bed, and Minerva's that the Malfoy's had always been helping out in the backgrounds. They had kept up their appearances for the world but apparently there was a secret reason for why they were willing to play the dark side and help the light. But that secret had yet to be discovered.

However, this was the first time Hermione got to see it with her own two eyes. Draco Malfoy wasn't the horrible person he had been made out to be.

She smiled at the two wizards and quickly changed the subject to something else. And for the rest of the trip they kept the conversation light and avoided possible awkward subjects. Before they knew it they could see the castle rise above the trees through the window and the train was slowing down.

At the sight, Hermione smiled to herself. She was finally home.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

The Great Hall was already packed with people by the time Hermione walked through the large wooden doors with flushed cheeks. She was one of the last people to arrive up to the castle because she had stayed behind on the platform in yet another futile attempt to catch up with Harry and Ron. The boys had been nowhere to be found and Hermione had resigned herself to take one of the carriages up to the castle on her own when Blaise and Draco had showed up as her saviours in need once again.

Both boys had jumped into her carriage just as it was about to take off, scaring the living daylights out of her.

" _Did you really think you could get rid of us that easily Granger?" Draco teased her as he jumped into the carriage, followed closely by Blaise._

" _No!" was that giggle really hers? "I was just looking for Harry and Ron."_

" _You couldn't find them?" Blaise looked at her with kind eyes and a frown._

" _No. They must have gone up to the castle already."_

" _Without you? That's not very nice!"_

" _It's not like we are attached at the hip Blaise." she defended her friends as something in Blaise's voice told her she was supposed to._

" _Still, they are your friends."_

 _There was that hint of irritation again that he did his best to mask. It confused her, because why would Blaise be irritated with Harry and Ron on her behalf? They hardly knew each other and when she looked over at Draco he was sporting the same scowl as Blaise. Why would these wizards suddenly be concerned for her emotional well-being?_

 _She didn't get any time to ponder it because they had arrived at the front doors of the castle and the carriage was coming to a halt. The boys jumped out first and when she moved to follow them out her mind was so distracted that she missed the last step._

 _The crisp autumn air hit her face and Hermione held her breath as she waited for the ground to come and kiss her hello. But it never happened. Instead, two strong arms wrapped themselves around her waist and pressed her up against something solid. When she opened her eyes again, she was faced the stormy grey eyes that were a trademark amongst the Malfoy men._

" _You okay there, Granger?" he asked as he drew circles with his thumbs on her hips._

 _He had yet to let her go or back away and their close proximity had her at a loss for words. Had he always been this attractive and why had she not noticed it before? Sure, she had not been blind to what the other girls had seen in him over the years, but he had never affected her the way he was now._

" _Granger? Are you okay?" Hermione cleared her throat and backed out slowly from his arms._

" _Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you!"_

Hermione could still feel his hands on her hips as she made her way across the room to the part of the Gryffindor table where her friends sat, without looking over at the neighbouring table, and she had a feeling that she would not forget about it any time soon.

The Great Hall had been restored to its former comforting glory, it looked exactly like it had during all of her previous years at Hogwarts. The enchanted ceiling that displayed the sky outside, the glimmering chandeliers and torches illuminated the room and gave it a cosy feel, the five long tables filled with students and staff members who were eagerly waiting for the feast to begin as the ghost swooped back and forth over their heads, it was all the same.

When she looked over at the head table and all of the professors, she noticed the familiar frame of their favourite gamekeeper. She gave the kind man a smile and looked away before she did a double take. In the middle of the head table sat another familiar frame, but one she never thought they would ever see here again. Professor, no Headmaster Snape was sitting in the throne that belonged to the headmaster of the school.

After Voldemort had been defeated Hermione had personally dragged Professor McGonagall down to the Shack where they found Professor Snape unconscious in a pool of his own blood. His pulse had been weak and his skin had taken on ghostly white shade, at first glance you were sure that the man was dead, but they had managed to stabilize him together and bring him up to the castle. Two weeks later he had woken up in a ward at St. Mungos and was on the mend.

Hermione had heard talk about him returning to Hogwarts when it was time during her time at the burrow, but she had assumed that he would retake his old position as Potions professor or to maybe take over the Defence Against the Dark Arts. It had not even occurred to her that he might take over the position as Headmaster again. From what she had been told, the man had loathed the position and had only taken it to protect the students as much as he could from the wrath of the Carrow siblings.

Harry immediately slung his arm around her shoulders as she took the empty seat next to him. He was laughing and acting completely carefree, it was obvious that he was high as well from the excitement of being back at Hogwarts. There was something so breathtakingly magical about this place and the way it made you feel.

"Where did you go, Mione?" Harry asked as Neville was done telling them about his summer with Luna. Apparently, they had spent their down time looking for another none-existing creature of Luna's imagination. "We couldn't find you anywhere on the train."

"Yeah, where were you?" Ron asked.

"I was looking for you, but I couldn't find you so when Blaise offered for me to sit with him and Malfoy, I did."

Harry took the information just as Hermione had expected him to. He stayed calm and there were no angry words, he barley batted an eyelash. But Ron on the other hand actually surprised her when he just shrugged it off before he turned towards Seamus to discuss the start of Quidditch after the war.

It was not a secret anymore that Lucius Malfoy had been a spy alongside Professor Snape, but that fact did not automatically erase all of the bad blood between the Weasleys and the Malfoys. Hermione had certainly not forgiven the Malfoys for all the things they had done to her, that's why she got so surprised that Ron managed to keep his cool. She had expected him to throw a gasket at her for even being in the same air space as Draco.

"Really?" Harry asked and caught the attention of Ginny, who immediately turned towards them and leaned in closer to them over the table.

"Really what?"

"Hermione sat with Malfoy and Zabini on the train."

"Oh really, did she now?" Ginny smiled with a wicked glint in her eye that had Hermione swallow twice.

"I met Blaise in the bookstore the other day and he was actually kind, so when he asked I didn't want to be rude. It was actually pretty fun."

"How kind of you!" the sarcasm dripped from Ginny's voice and Hermione really didn't want to know what was moving through her friend's head right now. If there was one thing Ginny loved it was matchmaking and scarily enough, she seemed to have a knack for seeing and knowing things that others didn't.

She watched as her friend turned towards Paravati, clearly letting Hermione know that she would not let her in on what that smile meant. But Hermione didn't have time to dwell on it for too long, because in that moment Professor McGonagall came through the doors to the Great Hall followed by the first years. They all looked just as nervous as she remembered feeling that first day. There had been so much to take in and everyone was watching you and wondering if you had what it took to get sorted into their house.

One by one the young ones put on the hat that was way too big for their tiny heads and then scurried over to join their new house. This year everyone clapped, no matter what house the first years got sorted into. Even the Slytherins joined in.

As soon as the sorting was over and Professor McGonagall took her seat up at the heads table, the entire hall quietened down. The dark-haired man in the middle had risen from his throne. Though he still wore the same scowl on his face and the all black, billowing robes, his voice was not what it had once been. It had gotten deeper and possibly more relaxed now that he didn't have literally the weight of the world on his shoulders. His speech was short and to the point, unlike Dumbledore he didn't make them wait for the feast to appear in front of them.

"It looks like you have an admirer." Ginny's eyes glittered as she nodded at something over Hermione's shoulder.

She tried to turn around as discreetly towards the Slytherin table as she could, but by the snort Ginny let out she wasn't doing a very good job. It had been deliberate of her to sit with her back facing the Slytherin table. She didn't want to risk meeting Draco's eyes from across the room, because she was sure that she would either get caught up in his eyes again or blush at the memory of his hands on her and that naughty smirk he wore when he had caught on to her thoughts. And much to her charging Ginny had been right.

Looking right at her was Draco and when he noticed her turning around he smiled and she had to turn back around again to hide the blush that was slowly spreading across her face. What was happening? This was so unlike them, this was so unlike her.

"Told you!" Ginny winked.

The rest of the dinner went by in a blur for Hermione. She was hardly aware of the things that were happening around her. Food entered her mouth and she chewed, but she didn't register what or how it tasted. It was first when people started to stir around her and Snape's deep voice carried through the hall once more.

"Now, if the Prefects would show the first years up to their common rooms while the eight years stay behind, I will show them up myself to their new dormitory." It was with surprise that the older students stayed behind and watched the younger ones go and gathered in a group by the doors.

"So it looks like you won't be able to escape me after all, Granger." came a low whispered voice in her ear and Hermione knew exactly who it belonged to. It sent slow shivers down her spine. Why did he have this effect on her?

They followed Snape through the castle and to a new corridor up on the second floor that they had never been in before until they stopped in front of a big portrait at the end of the hall. The portrait pictured the four original founders of Hogwarts. Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Huffelpuff, Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor.

"Sugar quill."

The portrait swung away to let them enter the newly revealed entrance to their new dormitory. Hermione could hear the excited and awed murmurs long before she walked through the entrance, but once she did she could understand what all the fuss was about. The room they walked into was light and bright with large gold painted windows that looked out over the Great Lake and dark wooden floors. A large fireplace was surrounded by couches and armchairs in different shades of silver and gold, underneath their feet was the most inviting cream coloured fluffy rug.

Everyone in that room agreed on that this was one place they could see themselves spend a lot of time in. It was so shockingly different from the rest of the castle and its dark and mysterious common rooms. This was simply beautiful. This was home.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

She leaned in closer to the mirror and turned so she could look at herself from a different angle. Hermione is not someone you would call shallow or vane and she was not someone that obsessed over how she looked. That was other girls. Not the Gryffindor-bookworm.

Lately though Hermione thought herself spotting changes in her own appearances, just these little things that were not the same that they had once been. Since returning to the castle Hermione had started to look healthier, her skin had gotten back it's healthy glow and a little more colour. And she wasn't the only one who noticed, both Ron and Harry had commented on how good she looked and she had to agree with them. She looked nothing like the frizzy haired little girl with buckteeth and feet that were just a little too big that walked into this castle eight years ago.

Her birthday was in three days and she already thought that she looked older and more mature. Her once frizzy, uncontrollable hair had turned sleek and fell into loose curls and if she wasn't mistaken she had also grown a couple of inches, her skirt was shorter and she had to tug her shirt down all the time. It was like she had grown into her own skin and was finally comfortable with herself for the first time.

With a last look in the mirror, Hermione left the bathroom and tiptoed through the bedroom so she wouldn't wake up the sleeping girls that were still sleeping. She was still an early-riser, the war had not changed that, and always woke up before the rest of the girls and everyone else for that matter. But she didn't mind. She enjoyed the moment of peace and quiet to sort through the million things that were constantly running through her head.

Like she suspected, the common room was empty so she settled down in her favourite chair by the fireplace and picked up the book she had left by the chair last night before she went to bed. She turned to the page where she had left off, but no matter how hard she tried she could not get back into it. Her mind kept drifting back to the images that were now stuck in her mind.

Last night she had had the weirdest dream. It had been like a vision, a trip into a pensive, something that Hermione hated to admit considering her history with Divination. But she could find any other logical explanation for the phenomenon.

There had been a man and a woman that were talking to her and she had smiled and laughed with them. She didn't recognise them but she still felt as if she knew them somehow, there had been a connection but she couldn't put her finger on what or where. What disturbed her the most though was not the fact that she recognised them, it was the way they looked at her like they recognised her as well. The look in their eyes had been so tender and comforting, she felt like that look meant something. It had comforted feel warm and comforted, but the minute she woke up the feeling disappeared and left her with a hallow feeling in her heart.

Lost in her own thoughts Hermione failed to notice that she was no longer alone in the common room and was startled out of her thoughts by the touch of a hand on her shoulder and the clearing of a throat. Hermione spun around in her armchair so fast she almost gave herself a whiplash.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you!" Blaise stood above her and looked down at her with that concerned look in his eyes again. "Are you okay? I have been calling your name for a few minutes now."

"Yeah, I'm fine." she mumbled and turned back around to stare into the flames. Blaise walked around her and took a seat in the chair next to her.

"What is on your mind?" Hermione could tell that he would not let her get away without giving him some kind of answer.

"I had a weird dream that's all."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Blaise sounded so genuine that Hermione couldn't help but smile at him. For the last two weeks, she had spent a significant amount of time with him and never once had her new-found opinion changed. They had been paired up in Arithmancy and she actually found that they had more in common than their brains.

But he was not the only one, she had also been paired up with Malfoy in Potions, something that also turned out to not be such a nightmare after all. She would not exactly say that they went out of their way for her, but they were kind and actually cared about her answer when they asked her how she was.

Others only asked because it was expected of them and they used to be close. Or even worse, they just wanted a reason to talk to one out of the Golden Trio and find out all the scoop about when they were on the run, some people still had no respect for horror and tragedy that their world went through. But the two wizards actually seemed to care for her answer.

"No, I'm okay."

"Then how about you join me for breakfast?" he suggested. "Draco won't be up for at least an hour and I'm starving!"

"Sure!"

They walked down the halls together until they reached the Great Hall on the first floor. It was practically empty inside considering the early hour expect for a few early risers at the Ravencalw and Slytherin tables. No one was sitting at either Gryffindor's table or Huffelpuff's, apparently, they liked their sleep.

Without really thinking about it Hermione followed Blaise over to the Slytherin table and sat down in the seat beside him. What harm could it do? No one was here anyway.

As they started to put food on their plates, they started talking and completely lost the track of time. Before they knew it, the Great Hall was buzzing and they were surrounded by students everywhere. It was first as Draco sat down opposite of them that they came out of their little bubble.

"Sleeping in the snake pit can be dangerous for a beautiful lion like yourself, Granger." both Hermione and Blaise looked around them and Hermione almost had a heart attack when she realised that she was surrounded by Slytherins that had more than once tried to heart her less than a year ago.

"Did you just call me beautiful, Malfoy?"

"So, what if I did?!" he smirked and looked her up and down suggestively. The wink he added at the end had her face burning up.

Over at the Gryffindor table Hermione spotted Harry and Ginny looking her way. They were smiling, clearly showing that her current position didn't bother them in the least. Both of them had made an effort the last couple of weeks to talk to both Blaise and Draco ever since they had started to hang out with her in the common room and library. It seemed as if they had come to the same conclusion as her, that the two wizards weren't as bad as they had always thought.

Ron on the other hand was a completely different story. When Hermione sat with them on the train to Hogwarts, he had barley blinked, but lately he had become more vocal about his opinions. What they had done during the war didn't seem to matter to him, they were still the same gits they had always been and nothing would change that.

He wouldn't look at her even after Harry elbowed him in the side. The food on his plate seemed to be the most interesting thing in the world to him.

This last year Ron had grown so much in her eyes. He had proven himself to be more matured and had started to own up to his mistakes, something that he had never done before. The childish boy that pretended to be a man had actually grown into a man. A man she was proud to have as her "brother". But lately that man had seemed to have just vanished, and it hurt.

After they finished their breakfast, Blaise and Draco stood up with her and walked along with her towards their first class of the day. Halfway there, Harry caught up with them, but Ron was nowhere in sight. They made small talk until Professor Slughorn opened the door to the classroom and they had to scatter out through the classroom to take their seats. Unfortunately, Blaise and Harry were on the other side of the room with their partners while she and Draco got stuck with two quiet and disapproving Ravenclaws.

The tension around the table was real and it did not help that Slughorn's lessons had not improved over the last year. Hermione had to struggle real hard to keep her eyes open and not fall asleep out of boredom.

"Don't fall asleep on me princess. I thought you were a diligent student?!"

"This man is worse than Binns!" Hermione groaned as she kept watching the man who was walking around at the front of the room telling one story after another.

"You'll find no argument here!"

"You're only mad because you didn't get invited to his secret little club." Draco only gave a snort as a reply and when she looked over at him, he was staring straight ahead with a pathetic pout on his face.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

The whole table rattled as Hermione slammed her fork down hard and captured the attention of the entire Great Hall.

"What is your problem?!" Hermione was way past caring that everyone was currently staring at her and her reddening face. For the past few days Ron had either been avoiding her like she was a leper or he completely ignored her every time they were in the same room. But today he had thrown in some angry glares when he didn't think she was watching.

"My problem?" Ron looked at her with mock surprise in his eyes and raised eyebrows.

"Yes, yours! You have been ignoring me for days like some three-year-old."

"Well I'm not the one fraternising with the enemy."

"Fraternising with the enemy?!" there was no controlling her temper anymore. "Last time I checked Voldemort was dead and not coming back. There is no bloody enemy anymore!"

"Then what do you call you eating with the snakes all the time?! Have you forgotten where you belong?" he growled out, no longer able to rein in his temper either. At his outburst, they didn't just have everyone's eyes on them, everyone had now stopped their conversations and where waiting with baited breath for how she would respond. It was so silent you could hear if a pin dropped to the floor.

"You did not just say that!" he was completely unrecognisable to Hermione, this was not the young man she had come to be so impressed by the last couple of months, this was not the man she considered a brother. "How can you still hold onto these childish grudges that has caused so much harm and cost everyone here so much? I really thought we were past this Ron. Everyone here has let it go, why can't you?"

With a final glare thrown in Ron's direction Hermione stormed out of the Great Hall. It was dramatic and so unlike her. While she was known for her hot temper, she was not known for displaying it so publicly. Ron had made her blood boil though and she felt like she was about to explode or combust at any moment now. She walked out of the castle hoping that a walk around the grounds would help to calm her down.

It was beautiful and Hermione was glad that she had returned, this was a view she had missed dearly and it never failed to make her feel better. Summer was holding on to its last breath, it was still green and warm outside but you could detect a slight chill in the air as the wind swept by, letting them all know that autumn was on its way.

Tomorrow was her birthday, the birthday she had been dreading for months. She would inherit everything that her parents had once owned. Their dental practice, the house where she grew up and all of their personal belongings. It was frightening because once it was all hers the last of her parents would be no more and that would make everything she had spent the last year a reality. That her parents would be dead according to the law and in every sense to her and her surroundings. The stress that had built up the last couple of days because of it was one of the reasons why she had gone off on Ron so easily. His actions had been too much to handle on top of everything else.

After walking around the grounds two times she returned up the castle and made her way towards the common room. She was still fuming, but at least she wasn't fuming flames like some dragon anymore. The dinner had already ended by the time she came back and the common room was filled with her peers who all looked up from what they were doing when she walked in through the portraithole.

She spotted Ron sitting in one of the far corners, playing wizards chess with Seamus and Dean. When their eyes met across the room, Hermione thought herself see a hint of regret in his eyes, but he looked away before she had a chance to look further. She shook her head, if he wanted a fight she was going to give him a fight. Harry was nowhere in sight, which meant that he was probably off with Ginny somewhere, so she walked over to the loveseats in front of the hearth where Blaise and Draco were sitting.

"Well, well if it isn't everyone's favourite drama queen!" Draco smirked and patted the empty seat next to him. "That was quiet the scene you made earlier."

"Shut up!" she grumbled and took the suggested seat, not realising beforehand how close it put her to Draco.

"Oh, I'm not complaining. Quite the opposite really, it warmed my heart how you jumped to our defence like that." Blaise chuckled at his friend's mirth and Hermione couldn't help but follow.

She looked up at the smirking blonde. While he might be joking Hermione could tell that he also meant what he said, that he appreciated that she had stood up for him and his friends. To her it might be a given to stand up for her friends, whomever they might be, but they were used to being the bad guys that no one cared to defend and whom everyone liked to blame. It pained her that they all had come to terms with prejudice as an everyday occurrence whichever way it went. They were just kids and weren't supposed to be formed by other people's mistakes and opinions already.

Draco gave her hand a squeeze and a small, but genuine smile, before he picked up the conversation he had had with Blaise and two other Slytherins that were on their Quidditch-team before she had arrived. From time to time, Blaise would turn towards her and ask her opinion, but for the most part she was content with just listening.

It hit her once again as she sat there next to Draco how comfortable she had become with the two wizards in the last two weeks. They were easy to talk to, she had found herself opening up to them on more than one occasion, and she found that she didn't mind their teasing or act like a flustered girl around them. At least not around Blaise.

Without even realising Hermione had subconsciously moved closer to Draco as her eyelids got heavier. The soft murmur from around the common room and the slight vibrations coming from Draco's chest were calming and she was slowly drifting off to la-la-land.

"Hey princess, are you falling asleep on me?" Hermione felt the soft, feather light touch of lips against her forehead.

"No." she huddled closer towards the warmth. "I'm awake."

"Sure you are!" Draco laughed and nudged her slightly. "Why don't you head up to bed and when we see you next time it's to celebrate your existence on this earth." Hermione slowly got up from the couch and then she leaned back down and pressed a kiss to Draco's cheek.

"Goodnight!" she was too tired for her to even recognise what she was doing, if she had she would have been mortified. It was too forward and way too soon for any show of the kind of affection between the two of them.

The morning sun was streaming through the big window on the other side of the room, waking Hermione up from a wonderful sleep. On any other day, she would be out of bed the minute she opened her eyes, but today the bed felt so warm and toasty that she found herself not wanting to get up. She stuck a foot out from the covers but pulled it back in quickly when it was hit by the cold air.

As she looked around the room, Hermione found that every other bed in the room was empty and that she was alone. This was a very rare occasion, she couldn't remember the last time she wasn't the first one of her dorm mates to wake up, in fact she was pretty sure that it had never happened before but considering the late hour she fell asleep it wasn't so weird. While she might have been tiered last night and practically fallen asleep on Draco's chest, after she had gotten into bed her mind had started to reel and she had stayed awake thinking about her upcoming birthday for hours. Or dreading it more like it.

Today was her nineteenth birthday and the day she would inherit everything her parents had owned. Part of the reason, aside from the cold, why she didn't want to get out of the bed was that she was sure her friends would make a big deal about her big day to make her feel better. And that was something she just wasn't up to right now.

Hermione picked up her wand from the bedside table and accioed over some clothes from the open closet on the opposite side of the room. They flew across the room and landed in her lap. She quickly changed underneath the covers before climbing out of the bed to face the day, ready or not. Before she had even descended the last step, her friends rushed over to her from their positions on the couch.

"Happy Birthday!" they all yelled in unison.

"Thanks guys." she mumbled and moved over to the couches, feeling embarrassed from all of the attention. Harry sat down next to her while Luna ran away, only to return a few seconds later carrying a bunch of presents that she dumped in Hermione's lap.

Harry smiled sympathetically at her. He had clearly noticed her discomfort and wrapped an arm around her.

One by one she opened the gifts with a fake smile that had her cheeks hurting. The gifts were nice. Books, clothes and a candy supply that would last her the entire year. But she couldn't quiet enjoy them. Her entire body ached with discomfort and she had to steel herself to sit still on the couch. She leaned her head against Harry's shoulder while she tried to focus on the conversations going on around her.

They spent the morning in the common room, eating the breakfast that someone had managed to smuggle up from the kitchen. Hermione suspected it to be Ron, a pathetic attempt from his side to distract them from his absence. They were waiting for the owl that would arrive at any minute now. Hermione Jean Granger was born on the 19th of September at 11:44 am. It was now 11:43.

The nauseating feeling, she had had since the moment she woke up had intensified during the day and it had become so unbearable that she couldn't contain the slight moan of pain. Hermione doubled over and if it weren't for Harry holding onto her, she would fall to the floor. When she was younger Hermione had terrible growing pains and it felt just like this, intense pain before turning into a dull pain and then back again.

"Mione?!" her friends' voices sounded from the distance, but all she could focus on was the pain coursing through her body.

The pain only lasted for a few minutes, but to her it felt like hours before it finally went away. With a deep breath, she righted herself and looked over at her friends that were staring at her with gaping faces. Their eyes were wide as saucers and their mouths wide open, but Hermione couldn't for the life of her understand why they were looking at her like that.

"What's wrong?"

"Your hair, it changed. You changed."

"What are you talking about Ginny?"

Ginny reached for her hand tentatively and lead her over to one of the ancient mirrors hanging on the wall. The person staring back at her was not the same person who had looked back at her last night before she went to bed. This girl had long, wavy hair instead of frizzy curls and it was black, not brown. Her eyes were blue and she was a couple of inches taller. The girl, or young woman, held no resemblance whatsoever to Hermione Granger except for the nose and mouth. What was happening to her?


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Blaise had not been able to sleep all night. He had lain awake and stared out the window, thinking, until the sun came up and his roommates got out of bed for breakfast. Blaise had yet to get out of the room, yet along the bed, and he didn't see that changing anytime soon.

Today was the day when everything was finally coming out and he was going to meet his sister for the very first time after all these years. It has been pure torture to watch her from a distance and to not have been able to talk to her, to get to know the girl that was such a huge part of who he was, and not to mention having to watch her get bullied and pushed around without being able to do a thing about it. All he wanted to do was to run over and take her away from it all, to protect her. He also knew that Draco felt the same way. He felt awful about how he has treated her, but he just like him didn't have much of a choice.

His family and the Malfoy family had been friends for generations, so close that they were practically family. They have stood by each other through thick and thin. When they had wanted to get out of Voldemort's claws they had done so together. His father, Cassio and Lucius went to the light side along with Severus Snape. Together they became spies to help the Order of the Phoenix take down the dark side. But when his mother, Bianca and Narcissa fell pregnant things became so much more complicated.

When Blaise and his sister was born, the five adults had been astonished of the little girl and the light and powerful magic radiating from her. From the moment they saw her, they all knew that they had to protect her from their lord. Voldemort was collector of valuable and powerful things, but he was also seeking an heir to bring up and to pass on his legacy. Twins were rare in the magical world, and it was especially rare for there to be a twin born as a girl. They were rare and extremely powerful. The adults couldn't risk the little girl to be taken away from them and have the darkness destroying her, so they did what they had to. They hid her away and denied her existence.

But both Blaise and Draco had been brought up with the knowledge of the missing piece of their family, their precious Aria. And they were all hopeful that Aria would one day return to them, and that day was today.

Today was their birthday and the glamour charm they had put on the girl nineteen years ago would come undone. His sister would come into her heritage and Blaise could finally drop the act and reunite with his sister and get to know her like he's always wanted.

"Mate, you need to get out of bed!" that was Draco's greeting as he walked back into the room. "I know it's your birthday but this is getting downright pathetic."

Blaise grumbled something incoherent to his friend and reluctantly got out of bed. He walked over to the closet where he pulled on some clothes before he sat back down on his bed and watched Draco sitting on his own bed across the room.

"She is out there right now with her friends. When is it time?"

"Noon."

They sat in silence for a while and just stared blankly at each other, bot lost in their own thoughts. But it was not a comfortable silence. The air was filled with tension and anticipation.

"How do you think she will react?" Blaise snorted at his friend's question.

"She will freak out. Her whole life will be turned upside down in a matter of seconds Draco. Hopefully these past few weeks will make things a little easier for her."

Blaise would bet all the money owned that his sister would in some way, better or worse, freak out when she found out who she really was. From the little he did manage to snap up during the years he knew that Aria was so intelligent and fast thinking, but she also had one hell of a temper. If you angered or hurt her it was like poking a sleeping bear. And Blaise could only just imagine that pain and hurt she must feel when she finds out the truth, he certainly had.

He had been so angry at first. He demanded to know why they had sent away Aria instead of him, what made her so special compared to him? He had lacked out on anyone trying to talk to him about it and he had grown to despise his sister. But as he grew older he saw his parents and the other adults around him saw. In the environment they lived in, men had status in a way that women didn't. He was safe while Aria risked becoming someone's trophy. Then there was that thing about her magic.

Twins were always more powerful and talented in one way or another, but Aria had been out of this world. There was something so good about her, so light, that it would be a crime to let her be tainted by the darkness that surrounded them. Uncle Severus had sat down with both him and Draco one night after supper and told them all about his goddaughter. He had spoken of her with such wonder in her voice and told the boys that one day she would come to do great things. And he had been right.

Not a day went by that he did not think about his sister and if she was doing alright. She had no idea who she was or who she was to him, but Blaise has always felt strongly about his twin sister.

Blaise was pulled out of his musings by loud voices traveling up from the common room. Both he and Draco looked at each other pointedly before they ran out the door and down the stairs where they were met by the most wonderful sight. Aria.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

She didn't understand what was happening, she couldn't understand. All her normal logic reasoning went out the window the minute she saw the reflection in the mirror. It seemed like everyone else's had done the same. They were all taken aback by the transformation and kept trying to out voice each other, they were so busy trying to come to terms with it that no one seemed to notice that she was on the verge of a break down or that Draco and Blaise had come running into the room.

She found it hard to stand up straight because she was shaking so badly. All that she could focus on was this out-of-body experience and what it could mean. At any other time, she would normally have come up with over a hundred different possibilities and on her way to the library to come up with a hundred more. But everything was a blur and deep down she knew what was happening even though she did not want to admit it. The changes in her appearance, her adoption and her birthday. It was all connected somehow but for once she couldn't find the final missing puzzle piece.

"Aria!" a voice from the other side of the room broke through her friends' incessant chatter and caught her attention. Blaise was standing there and looked at her with an awed expression, but he didn't look surprised, he looked happy.

"What is happening to me?" she cried out and looked pleadingly at her friends, begging them to tell her this was just one of Fred and George's pranks.

When she didn't get an answer and Blaise kept looking at her the way he was, she could feel how the ground disappeared from underneath her. She was inches away from the hitting the ground when two arms caught her around the middle and pulled her upright. Someone lead her over to one of the sofas and when she came back to it, Blaise was kneeling in front of her and held her face in between his hands as he tried to talk to her.

"Look at me! Everything is going to be alright, just breathe." she tried to do as he said and calm her raising heart, it felt as if it was beating out of her chest.

One of Blaise's hands found hers and slowly stroked across her knuckles with his thumb. He let her know that he was there and slowly her breathing started to slow down. When she became aware of her surroundings again, she gathered up her courage and looked at Blaise for the first time that morning. He was looking at her with so much warmth that she couldn't help but feel comforted. He seemed so calm and understanding, and it was exactly what she needed at the moment.

"What is happening to me Blaise?" she pleaded. "Why did you call me Aria?"

He looked at her sympathetically and moved a little closer to her, but just as he opened his mouth to say something he was interrupted by Draco as he busted into the room with Professor McGonagall and Headmaster Snape in tow.

Minerva was immediately at her side and lay a supporting hand on her shoulder. The old witch could barely believe her eyes, if Draco and Severus had not filled her in on the way over here she would not have recognised the girl she had come to care so much for over the years. It was hard for her to phantom what was happening and she had seen a lot during her many years in the magical world, so the old professor could only imagen how hard it must be for the girl to wrap her head around it. Her whole life was turning upside down, had the girl not suffered enough already?

Headmaster Snape on the other hand froze the moment he stepped into the room and caught sight of the girl. In front of him was the girl he had willingly risked his life for over and over again. He might have seen her almost every day for the past seven years, but finally after 19 years he got to see the real her and she was beautiful, he could feel how his stone-cold heart started to warm up.

As he woke up from his stupor he walked over to the sofa where the girl was sitting and sat down next to her. He wanted to the same thing as Minerva and Blaise, he wanted to hold her or touch her in some way to comfort her. He wanted to take away a little of the pain he knew she must be feeling at the moment, but he also knew that his comfort might not exactly be welcome at the moment so he kept his hands to himself.

"Hermione?" he coaxed gently to catch the girl's attention. It was clear that his use of her first name had startled her, it wasn't very often that addressed a student by their first name. "Do you understand what has just happened to you?"

"No." she shook her and looked to be close to tears again. "Or maybe. I'm not sure."

"Are you aware that you were adopted when you were younger?" he hoped that he didn't come with more distress and shocking surprises to the girl.

"Yes. My parents told me years ago."

"Good. Now I am going to tell you a story from my past and I need you to let me finish. Can you do that?"

"Yes."

Severus took a deep breath and prepared himself mentally to tell a story he had not thought off for several years because it was too painful. Everyone in the room took a seat and held their breath as they waited for the man to begin.

"As you might already know, I have known the Malfoy family and the Zabini family for a very long time. They are my family. I went to school with Lucius and Cassio and I am Godfather to both Draco and Blaise. When my best friends came to me and said that they needed my help to protect their children I happily went along. We went to Dumbledore and did whatever we could to help bring down the Dark Lord." everyone could hear the clear distain in the man's voice as he spoke about his old master. How he had ever willingly gone with that man, Severus could no longer understand. "Then came the day when Bianca, Blaise's mom and Cassio's wife, went into labour. Blaise was born, but what we did not know back than was that there were two. Bianca was pregnant with twins. Five minutes after Blaise a baby girl was born and the magic surrounding the little girl was… astonishing. Twins are a very rare commodity in the wizarding world and are therefore also more powerful, but we all knew that the magic that little girl held was even more powerful and if Voldemort ever found out he would want to use it for his own gain. We all fell in love with her the moment we saw her and realised we had to do everything we could to keep her out of harm's way. Lucius got the task of taking you to safety, after he put a glamour charm on the baby he left her on the doorstep of a muggle orphanage." the man could hear how the girl caught her breath at the mention of that last detail. "I later got the task of keeping watch over her over the years to come. That little girl was you Hermione."

She sat stunned on the sofa and stared blankly at her professor. It was a wonder that her mouth was not agape. The fact that she had always known that she was adopted did absolutely nothing to help her deal with what was in front of her now. Nothing could have possibly prepared her for this. It did not matter how much she had longed to find a family where she belonged, it didn't make it any easier to phantom that her brother was sitting in front of her at this very moment. She had no idea what she had expected, she just knew that this was not it.

Never in a million years did she think that she was the long-lost twin sister of Blaise Zabini, pureblood and proud Slytherin. It had always been there back in her head that she might be a pureblood, but it was such a far cry from her normal life that it had seemed very unlikely.

But here she was, and it was all hitting her hard that all of this was very real. The Hermione Granger she knew an hour ago, was no more.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 8

Blaise watched the interaction between his Godfather and newfound sister, he didn't want to miss anything. When he and Draco had heard the shouts and loud voices coming from the common room, they had rushed out there without a second thought. What they saw then will forever be etched into his mind as one of the most memorable moments in his life.

There was a bright light surrounding a girl's frame as she writhed in pain on the floor. As the light started to fade away, so had the girl's pain. Once it had receded completely, the girl stilled completely and one of the many Gryffindors in the room ran over to her and helped her to get up. In front of them then had been the one person who was constantly on his mind, a girl who looked exactly how he had imagined his sister to look like. She was the splitting image of their mother with long dark hair that reached the waist, olive coloured skin, small button like nose and plumb lips. Everything was their mother, except for the eyes. The light blue eyes that held such depth you could drown in them. It was his eyes, his father's eyes.

The poor girl had been shaking so badly, overwhelmed by it all, and her eyes had been pleading with them to help her make sense of it all. Two seconds later he saw how the light went out of her eyes and he had just managed to get to her before she had hit the ground. He had been kneeling in front of her to try and calm her down while Draco ran off to grab their Godfather.

Severus had quickly gotten everything under control, but Blaise refused to leave his sister's side. It didn't feel right to leave her alone now when he just found her. She needed someone on her side in all of this and he was not about to let her down when he was finally able to do something.

Blaise knew he should leave and owl his parents to let them know what had occurred. He knew that they both must be waiting eagerly for some kind of news about their long-lost daughter, good or bad. Today had been a long time coming for their family, the Malfoys and their uncle. They had all awaited the day that the little girl would return home to them with bathed breath. But Aria had yet to breath since their uncle dropped the bomb and she held his hand in a vice grip and she gave no indication of letting go any time soon. She kept looking from him to his uncle and then back again. Her friends were of no help either, they seemed to be just as taken aback by it all as she was. They kept staring at her with their mouths wide open.

"May I suggest that we take this back to my office?"

Blaise quickly agreed with their uncle and with his help they managed to help Aria up from the sofa and out of the common room. Professor McGonagall and Draco trailed behind them, but when Aria's friends made a move to follow them Severus told them off and made them stay behind.

They reached the golden gargoyle that hid the entrance to the Headmaster's office. As he leads Aria up the winding the staircase he keeps up a silent conversation with Draco, trying to convey his thoughts without disturbing Aria as she thought everything over in her head. She hadn't spoken since they left the common room and it was first when they had all taken a seat inside the office that she finally opened her mouth.

"You mean to tell me that Blaise is my long-lost twin brother?" her attention was solely on their uncle, who sat behind the desk that had once been the desk of a tall, white bearded man with moon-shaped spectacles.

"That's right." the man behind the desk said softly. Blaise had never heard the snarky Potions professor be so patient and gentle with someone. If it had been him or Draco that asked such obvious questions, no matter their state of mind, they would have gotten a smack over the back of the head and berated for being so daft. But it seemed as if the Bat of the Dungeons had a weakness after all. His niece. "I know this has been quite a lot to take in, but I know some people who are dying to meet you."

Judging from his sister's expression, she knew exactly to whom Severus was referring. Her eyes grew wider and they expressed both excitement and fear.

"Are they here?" she asked, slightly panicked.

"No, not yet. But they are waiting to hear from us, they are really looking forward to seeing you."

"Okay." she spoke so softly they could hardly hear her after a few minutes of complete silence. It looked though as if she wanted to run away and hide.

"Very well!" Severus got up from his chair and within a second he had disappeared into thin air to go and get their parents.

No one spoke a word during the five minutes it took. Draco entertained himself by closely observing every single item around the room under the disapproving eye of Professor McGonagall. Aria, or Hermione or whatever they were supposed to call her, sat in her chair and bounced her leg up and down as she chewed nervously on her lip. It was quite amusing to watch really.

"What am I supposed to say?" his sister asked herself after a while, but everyone in the room heard it anyway because of the echoing silence.

"Oh trust me," Draco laughed and spoke up for the first time since it had all gone down. "When Aunt Bianca and my mother are in the room there is no need for worrying about to day, they talk plenty for everyone." the statement had Blaise laughing out loud. He agreed with everything Draco had just said, their mothers knew how to keep a conversation alive.

"Just don't let them hear you say that!" he laughed. "Or they will smack you upside the head."

Their recollection of their mothers' behaviour seemed to have intrigued his sister and worked as a wonderful distraction. Her leg stopped bouncing and she listened eagerly to everything they had to say. It seemed like she relaxed for the first time since the glamour charm dropped earlier.

Probably sooner than Aria would have liked, the fireplace roared to life and their dark-haired uncle came out of the hearth followed by two tall, dark figures that were his parents. The silence that once again fell over the room was deafening, even Draco took a step back from his discovery tour of the office to come and stand behind the girl who was the centre of everyone's attention to act as moral support. The girl in question sat completely still in her chair, wringing her hands together and refusing to look from her lap to meet anyone's inquiring gaze. That included their parents who were staring at her with wide eyes. Blaise really didn't want to be in his sister's shoes now, he wouldn't wish it on anyone.


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you for all of your reviews, you make my life as a struggling and hard-working Uni student a little more bearable. But a special thank you to Bamby20011. Your kind words literally made my day, I am glad that you like my work so much!**

 **Merry Christmas everyone! x**

The second the fire roared to life and the sound of feet hitting the stone floor rang through the room, Hermione could feel how all eyes present turned to her. She on the other hand, had only eyes for the man and woman who had just come through the fireplace. The man that was slightly hovering above her was tall, dark and had broad shoulders. He radiated a sense of power and calm. But he wasn't the reason Hermione caught her breath, it was the petite woman next to him that stunned her. The glimpse that Hermione caught of herself earlier was the spitting image of the woman now standing in front her of her, the only real difference was the eyes. The woman's eyes were a dark chocolate brown while hers had been crystal blue, like the Mediterranean Sea.

And the more she tried to comprehend it, the more she struggled to get air into her lungs. It felt like the walls were closing in on her and her vision was starting to get blurry. The temperature in the room had also risen several degrees. She couldn't for the life of her understand why all of this was happening to her.

This is what she has wanted all along, to find her birthparents and have something to connect to. But this was not what she had in mind when she started her search. To find out that her parents were people in her close surroundings and that her family was actually people she has known all her life. This changed everything she had ever known. Her only safe haven had just been turned upside down and it no longer felt safe.

Before anyone had a chance to stop her, she rose from her chair and fled out of the room with lightning speed.

"I'm sorry. I can't do this."

Her footfalls echoed against the stonewalls of the castle as she ran down the practically empty hallways. Everyone else was safely hidden away in different corners of the castle as they enjoyed their weekend, their drama free weekend. She ran down the stairs to the Entrance Hall with such speed that she was surprised that she didn't trip and fall down. But she didn't stop once she reached the big double doors that led outside, she kept running across the grounds until she reached the Black Lake and the big Oaktree she always used to sit under and do her homework. The tree was still standing tall and the rock that she used as a table for her books, still lay down by its roots.

In an attempt to catch her breath, Hermione slumped back against the trunk and slid down to the ground. The fresh air helped to open up her lungs and she could slowly feel how all of her senses slowly came back to her.

She now knew. The family she had spent the last couple of months searching for had found her and now she knew. What now? Did she get to know them? Did they become a family or did they leave things be? Hermione didn't even know if she wanted to get to know them or for them to be a family. Was she a hypocrite? The reason she wanted to find them was to have a family that she felt was her own and someone who she belonged to. But now that she knew them, she didn't. Or maybe she did. In any case she let their past cloud her longing and the one thing she had wanted more than anything.

For almost ten minutes she sat like that, with her head between her knees and dwelled over her predicament, before her spider senses started to tingle and alerted her that someone was nearby.

"Do you mind if I join you?" a familiar deep, smooth voice asked. When she looked up she found Headmaster Snape, or Severus, looking down at her.

Not knowing what to say, she only nodded and watched as he gracefully took a seat on the ground next to her. It was quite a sight to see the normally so poised Professor deem himself to sit on the ground. But so many strange things had happened the last month that she was no longer surprised by anything.

The two of them had never really spoken before today since she had helped to save his life that horrible day at the Battle of Hogwarts. She had not expected them to either, they had never had a very good relationship, if you could even call it that. There had been subtle insults and nicknames, and she could only remember a handful of times when they had been civil to one another and that was only when it had been just the two of them around. But now that very same man turned out to be her godfather, a part of her family, and he was sitting next to her on the ground and she had no idea what to expect.

"Where they upset?" she asked as she decided to break the silence between them.

"I believe they had envisioned a different outcome, but they understood."

"Ever since I came back from Australia in May, all I wanted was to find my birthparents. But it wasn't supposed to be like this, it was supposed to be simple! The people who watched me get torture by a crazy woman are a part of my family and that said family now wants me to become a part of their life and calls me by a name that I have no relation to. I don't even know what to call myself, Hermione or Aria?! I did not ask for this!" by the end of her rant she was out of breath once more and she was mortified that she had just spilled her gut to the Professor.

"Perhaps not, but it is not going to go away just because you want to act like a little school girl and not deal with it instead of being the war hero that you are. And as for your name, it has always been Aria Zabini whether you knew it or not." Severus drawled and he sounded just like the snarky Potions Professor she knew. And he was right, she was behaving like a little girl who was having a tantrum. This situation couldn't be easy for anyone, including her biological family, but she had so many questions and they had had nineteen years to prepare.

"Are they still here?"

"No, they took Blaise back home for the day. I believe Mr. Malfoy went with them as well to keep him company. It has not been an easy day for Blaise either, he has been looking forward to this since the day we told him who you were."

"How long has he known?" she asked, feeling a little ashamed that she had not thought of Blaise.

"Since his first year at Hogwarts. He and Draco have always known who you were, but they had to keep up appearances to protect you."

"What should I do?" she looked at the dark-haired man for some wise words.

"How about you and I go over there, they can talk and you can listen and ask any question you might have. Then you can decide what you want to do."

After having had a moment to herself to breath and some wise words from the man beside her, it was easier to shift through all of the new information in her head. This is what she had wished for. It might not have gone down the way she had imagined or wanted it to and it most certainly changed a lot for her. But now she had a family who wanted to get to know her, to have her be a part of their lives. The situation could have been completely different with them not wanting anything to do with her at all, that could be the reason why they gave her up. However, that was not the case and that is something she should be grateful for.

If they for some reason would not have wanted anything to do with her, whoever they were, she would have been devastated. So really, what reason did she have to be upset? To have had Blaise around her the last couple of weeks has been really nice. With Harry spending a lot of time with Ginny and Ron dedicating himself to Quidditch completely and acting like a douche, it was no secret that she had been feeling a little left out and alone.

Blaise and Draco had made the time without her best friends so much more bearable and it amazed her every time how close they had become. She did not open up to people easily after her not so easy childhood in a world where people looked down at her heritage and she liked to play tough and independent, especially after the war. But with Blaise she has not had that problem. She felt at ease with him and in all honesty, she could do a lot worse than to have him for a brother.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The pair of them stood up from the ground and the Professor grabbed a hold of her arm. In the next second she was pressed through a tight tube, all of the air got pushed out of her lungs, and when she opened her eyes again she was standing with both feet on the pathway that led up to an enormous mansion.

Its white walls rose towards the sky, with deep green ivy climbing the façade and there were plenty of big, bay windows. It was not your typical restored English manor, and had she been a little girl she might have mistaken it for a castle. She found it hard to believe that this was the place where she would have grown up in, where she would have run around and played tag with her brother on the grounds and the place she would have called home.

She followed Snape as he began to walk up the pathway towards the massive double oak doors. The man didn't bother to knock and wait for someone to open them for them, he just walked straight in. She suddenly felt shy, it seemed like she was intruding on the residents of this big, big house whose corridors she was currently being lead down. They were all beautifully decorated with portraits and landscapes on the walls and rare, exotic flowers in vases on side tables. It was light and bright, not the dark dungeon she had found the Malfoy manor to be on her last visit, and it was so unlike the old British brownstone she had grown up in on the outskirts of London. There were so many different impressions to take in and she was too stunned to even try.

When they finally came to a stop after walking down several hallways, she was standing in front of the most beautiful parlour she had ever seen. The room was full of people. It looked warm an inviting with the sun shining in through the windows, but it was eerily quiet and tense.

The beautiful woman, who was also her mother, was standing by one of the big way windows and looked out distantly at the surroundings while the Malfoys, Blaise and Cassio were sitting on the sofas in front of the fireplace. No one spoke, everyone just stared around the room and avoided the big elephant in the room. The elephant being her.

Blaise was the first one to notice that they had entered the room and rose up from his seat.

"You came! You are here!" he exclaimed and caught everyone's attention. Their heads all turned towards her and her mother looked so hopeful standing over there by the window that it almost hurt Hermione to look at her.

"Obviously." Snape drawled and Hermione had to bite her tongue to not laugh out loud. It was just as amusing as she remembered. But then everyone's stares got to her again.

"Hi… ehm I am sorry for turning up like this, but I just- I wanted…" in no time Blaise was walking carefully towards her, in an attempt to not scare her away.

"You have nothing to apologise for and you are welcome here anytime you want!" he frowned slightly but he never lost his smile. "I hope you don't mind me asking but what made you come around?"

"Someone," she turned subtly towards the Headmaster. "helped me see that the situation wasn't all about me. It can't have been easy for you either, your lives are also different because of this, but it was just too much too soon and I needed to breath." she did her best to not look anyone in the eye as she confessed. "I'm sorry for that!"

"It's okay sweetheart. We understand."

"All I have wanted the last couple of months was to find my family and I don't know much about siblings, the closest I have gotten to have siblings are Harry and Ron, but I reckon having you as a brother can't be such a bad thing.

Blaise had her in his arms before she had even finished her sentence. He was squeezing her so tight she was finding it hard to breathe. But it felt nice. Hermione buried her nose into his neck and let his scent comfort her. It felt really nice. When they broke apart a few minutes later, Blaise grabbed her hand again and lead her over to the windows from where their mother watched them with tears in her eyes.

"Hermione, this is our mother Bianca." Blaise introduced.

The woman in front of her was crying earnestly now and kept mumbling things in Italian that Hermione could not understand. But her voice was tender and one of her hand was shakily making its way up to her face. Bianca stroked her knuckles softly over her cheek and Hermione just watched the woman with big and wide eyes. Hermione took in every detail of her mother's face with extreme fascination, she wanted to make sure she did not miss a thing.

"We have gotten permission to keep Blaise here over the weekend to celebrate your birthday, would you like to join us?"

Just when Hermione thought the woman could not be any more perfect or flawless, she was proved wrong. Her voice was so melodic. Hermione could only imagine how soothing that voice would be reading bedtime stories. It brought on a shockwave of emotions and the only thing she could manage was to nod her head as an affirmative. Maybe this would not be so bad after all.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Draco shook his head and smirked at Blaise as he listened to his father tell another one of his not so funny jokes. To watch the stiff upper class try to tell a joke was actually more fun than the joke itself. The sad part is that everyone laughed with him anyway to placate him.

The joke was just one in the line of many and they only got worse and louder. They were a rowdy bunch for sure. If their fathers and uncle weren't telling exaggerated stories or bad jokes, their mothers filled them in on the latest gossip and scandals amongst the society. It didn't leave much room for anyone else to pitch in on the conversation, he and Blaise mostly commented once in a while as well as exchanging looks across the table. Aria, or Hermione, had not spoken much at all, but she had been awfully quiet now for a while.

He took a quick look around the table and noticed that the seat between Blaise and their uncle, that she had previously occupied, was now empty. How had he not noticed her getting up to leave?

Putting down his napkin on the table he quietly got up from his seat as well while uncle Cassio held everyone's attention with yet another story. He walked out of the dining room and tiered to suss out any sound that could indicate where she had gone off to. But the house was eerily quiet apart from the muffled sounds coming from the crowd in the dining hall. He had walked through almost the entire house when he arrived in the sunroom and noticed the patio door ajar. The doors lead out to his uncle Cassio's famous rose garden, figures that she would be drawn to it. She might try to deny it, but she really wasn't so different from other girls. She still enjoyed romance and what was more romantic than a garden filled with roses and magical fireflies.

The minute he walked through the arch of the garden he spotted her sitting on the bench next to one of the fountains, dressed in the red chiffon maxi dress she had changed into for the birthday dinner. She looked lost in her own thoughts and she was completely oblivious to his presence, and despite his better judgement he found himself stunned by the sight. During the past couple of weeks, he had really gotten to know the girl he had admired and cared for from a distance for a long time and the sparks between them had only grown stronger. Not only was she a really good person, she was also beautiful with or without the glamour charm. Normally he would have made a move at the first spark, but this wasn't just any girl. She was a part of their family and his best friend's sister, if things went wrong the consequences would be disastrous and awkward, and not only for the two of them. It wasn't a good idea, but since when had that ever stopped him?

"What are you doing out here on your own princess? The party is inside." he spoke as he took a seat next to her on the bench. She jumped slightly in her seat, but she quickly relaxed again when she saw who he was. The war was still with them all, it probably always would be.

"I just… I-" she blushed adorably and looked down at her lap.

"Needed some breathing space?" he bumped his shoulder with hers to get her to look at him again. He found himself wanting to look into her eyes.

"Yeah. It's just, a lot has happened today an I just need some time to process it all." she smiled apologetically.

"It's all well and good. For a while there Princess, I thought you were trying to hide from me again."

"If I were trying to hide from you, you would not be able to find me." she raised one of her eyebrows and smirked back at him. The confident and strong girl they all knew was back in full form.

"Oh I don't know… I always manage to find the pretty ones."

Draco could tell that he had taken her by surprise as she tried her hardest not to back down from his gaze and avert her eyes. Sure, he had flirted with her before, but never this openly or honestly and it took her a few seconds to get her bearings again.

"Pretty am I? Aren't there some kind of rule against flirting with your friend's sister?"

"Touché Granger! But it doesn't make it any less true though." she rolled her eyes and turned to stare out over the garden. She obviously wasn't going to be just as easily swayed when he didn't catch her off guard.

"Zabini." she corrected him. "Or I don't know. I never thought I would have two names and no idea what to call myself." she laughed bitterly and kept her eyes locked on the fireflies that floated around the garden.

Draco couldn't stand how torn up she sounded and took a hold of her hand that rested in her lap. He felt for her, he really did. This whole situation couldn't be easy. To go from having no parents and no family to suddenly having a family as large as theirs that have her two identities that people expected her to keep. If he was the one in her shoes, he would have locked himself up in his room for days and not talked to anyone. But then again, she is a lot stronger than him, she always has been. If something did not sit right with her, she did something about it and she never backed down from a fight. He was in awe of her and her strength.

"To us, you have always been Aria Zabini. It's all we have ever known. But Hermione Granger is all you have ever know and that has to count for something as well."

"I do kind of like it." she said with a smile and squeezed his hand. "It's very beautiful." that it was. Very fitting he thought.

"Uncle always told us how determined Bianca was to have a child name Aria. He was afraid she would have named Blaise Aria if you didn't come into the world as well." they both laughed at the thought of Blaise with a girl's name. It wasn't too hard to imagine, he did have a tendency to act like a little girl.

They fell into silence once again and Draco watched as Hermione tried to follow the same firefly with her eyes. He might have always known who the girl with the bushy hair at the front of the class was, but over the last couple of weeks he had really gotten to know what an amazing person she could be.

Sure, she might have a temper that could scare the toughest of grown men and her strife for knowledge and need to always be right could get annoying at times. But she had the biggest heart and was loyal to a fault, always putting other people first despite what she had going on herself. He really admired her and somewhere along the line he started to think of her as more than his best friend's sister.

As far as Draco knew, Blaise has no idea of his budding feelings for his sister and he wasn't sure how it would go down. But if he was honest, he didn't really care about it, it had gone that far.

Draco put the hand that wasn't holding Hermione's hand into the pocket of his dress pants and fingered the shrunken parcel. His parents had gotten her a present from the all that she had received at dinner, but Draco had wanted to get her something from just him. It had taken him a while but he thinks he finally got it right.

"Has it been a good birthday despite all the drama?" he inquired softly.

"Yeah." she smiled. "It has been nice. I didn't know that Professor Snape could be so laid back."

"You should probably get used to call him uncle or at least Severus, and a lot of weight has lifted from his shoulders the past couple of months. Getting you back has just been the icing on the cake, the man no longer has any secrets to keep quiet about." Draco had no idea how his uncle managed to keep his life up the way he did. To be a part of two sides and try to stay alive is one thing, but to on top of that try to keep two other persons safe as well was damn near impossible.

"True." she agreed and then grew quiet again. Really quiet. He could tell that something was bothering her.

"What is it?" he wondered in concern. She turned to look at him and her hold on his hand got stronger.

"They got a room for me here. Bianca showed it to me earlier, apparently, she has had it ready for years. There were even clothes in the closet. I just- what am I supposed to do with that?"

"You do know that you don't _have_ to do anything, right? They don't expect anything, they just want to get to know you and they are willing to accept anything you are willing to give them." she smiled.

"You know, for a self-announced bad playboy you can be quite sweet."

"A moment of weakness, I assure you." he smirked and he cursed himself for feeling happy at making her laugh. He was turning soft, way too soft.

"Where did you guys go?!" Blaise's voice carried through the garden and Draco cursed him in his head, he still had yet to give Hermione her birthday gift. "It's time for cake, chop chop!" that was his best friend alright, nothing could stand between him and his cake.

"Coming!" he yelled back. "We better head back or he will never forgive us from depraving him from cake."

Once again, she laughed and he felt how the warmth and the feeling of satisfaction spread through his body. This was starting to get ridicules. Draco stood up from his seat but he kept a hold of her hand, forcing her to get up as well, and lead them back through the garden to the patio doors they had both used to escape the mansion.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter thirteen

A scream. A high pitched, blood curling scream woke Cassio up from his sleep and had him shoot up into a sitting position. The scream was familiar. He had heard that kind of scream many times before. His thoughts immediately went to his wife, but with a turn of his head he found her sleeping peacefully next to him in the middle of their ridiculously big bed that Bianca had insisted they get. If it had been up to him they would have gotten a queen or one even smaller, anything that allowed him to lay close to her. His wife was his safe haven, in her presence he forgot all about his worries and lying in bed with her was a favourite past time of his. But no, not having a king was not an option according to his wife.

" _You are a grown man, and a lord at that, then you have a bed worthy of your stature."_

If he had learned something over the years it was that his wife was almost always annoyingly right. So they got a king, but the only time actually took advantage of its size was when they made love. Otherwise he did not let his wife stray too far from his side.

The scream rang loudly again and it was coming from inside the manor, but his wife was still asleep next to him. As it sounded a third time, it also woke up his wife and that is when it dawned on him, their daughter. Cassio was out of bed and running down the hallway before the next scream rang or his wife had comprehended what was happening. But he wasn't the only one who had awoken. Blaise and Draco stuck their heads out of Blaise's door and both Lucius and Severus were coming down the other end of the hall. They had all stayed over last night to continue the celebration of the return of their daughter. And they were all now moving towards said daughter's room.

The sight that met him when he opened her door would break any father's heart. His daughter was withering and turning in her bed as she moaned in pain. It didn't take him long, or very much consideration, before he was by her side. At first, he did not know what to do, he did not know the girl and he had no idea how to comfort her, so he did what he had done to Blaise when he was a little boy. He got on to the bed with her and gathered her up in his arms. The girl struggled at first and fought against his hold, it was clear that whatever terrors haunted her in her sleep was very real to her, but slowly he managed to break through to her.

"Hush sweetheart, it's time to wake up. Open your eyes for me."

Cassio could hear Bianca's sobs from over where she stood in the doorway and from the corner of his eye he could see how Blaise but his arm around his mother to comfort her. It was in that moment that Cassio got to see for himself what a good man his son had grown up to be. The boy had tears of his own in his eyes and Cassio could tell that he wanted nothing more than to help his sister, yet he stayed behind with his mother. It made him proud.

"Sch, open your eyes sweetheart."

It took a few moments but eventually he could feel how the girl in his arms started to gradually relax. Her arms stopped trying to break free from his embrace and her body stopped trashing. Seconds later her eyelids started to flutter open and when her chocolate brown orbs met his they widened in shock.

"Shit." she muttered. Her cheeks flushed bright red and she tried to hide her face in his chest.

"Shit indeed." Severus drawled from his position across the room. "You gave us quiet the scare little girl."

The girl jumped slightly at the sound of the second voice, Severus speaking up made her suddenly aware of the other people that were present in the room and the fact that they were not alone.

"I forgot about the silencing charm, didn't I?" she whispered.

"Is this a regular occurrence?" Cassio asked tensely. The thought of his daughter in destress like this when she was alone made his blood boil.

"It has gotten better."

She was still whispering and refusing to meet his, or anyone else's, inquiring eyes. Cassio felt at a loss, he didn't know what to do except for hugging her closer. And to be honest it wasn't just to be a comfort to her, it was also a comfort to him to finally be able to hold his daughter after all these years.

"Can I ask what the dreams are about?" he inquired gently, but she tensed up immediately

"I can't." this time she did look up at him, with eyes brimming with tears.

"It's about what happened with her, isn't it?" it was young Draco who spoke.

His voice was deadly calm, but his face told a completely different story. The boy was clenching his jaw so hard that Cassio worried his teeth might break and his eyes were so dark that they were almost pitch black. Judging by the girl's sharp intake of breath though, he was right and Cassio knew exactly of whom they were speaking of.

All three of the Malfoy's had taken to call the woman who had tortured his daughter on their ballroom floor as _her_. They never spoke her name out loud and not once had he heard of Cissa mourning her sister. They had all been glad to see her gone. But she wasn't gone though. His daughter was being haunted by the woman in her dreams, she could not rest without being reminded of the horrible things that awful woman had put her through. It was no wonder she had looked so skinny and had dark marks under her eyes when they first saw her.

"Isn't it." Draco pressed. It was like he needed to hear a verbal confirmation that the woman who had been his aunt was the reason for her pain.

"Yes!"

Along with her acceptance, a dam opened up inside of her. The tears brimming in her eyes spilled over and her body shock with sobs. She cried and cried and she wouldn't, or couldn't, stop. It didn't matter what Cassio said or did, she just clung to him and let the tears fall. He knew that she would be mortified in the morning if she realised that she had broken down in front of everyone, so Cassio waved the others out. Bianca and Blaise was the last to go, they lingered for as long as they could before they left as well.

He knew that Bianca really wanted to stay behind, every single bone in her body was maternal and it most likely pained her just as much to see their daughter like this like it hurt him. But sadly Aria wasn't really comfortable around them yet, he had just been fortunate to arrive first to land in this position, and they had to but her first right now.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked quietly after the door closed.

"It feels as if I am right back there again." she whimpered. "I can practically feel the pain and see her standing there over me. It hurts and I see faces. I see Harry, Ron, Luna and Ginny all in pain and I can't escape it, it keeps playing over and over. I-I just want it to stop."

The tears kept coming and Cassio could feel how a wet spot started to form on his shoulder. But he did not mind. He let her talk herself to sleep and then stayed with her long after she fell asleep to make sure there was no more nightmares. It also felt really nice to be able to hold his little girl, so he might have stayed behind a little longer than necessary. It felt really nice to hold his little girl and he had a really hard time to break away when it was time.

When he returned to the bedroom Bianca was lying wide awake in their bed and he knew she was waiting for answers. He moved to the bed and moved back the covers to climb in. Immediately he had Bianca in his arms and he buried his face in her hair to draw some strength from her familiar scent.

"Is she okay?"

"She will be fine, Cara." he would make damn sure of it.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter fourteen

The sun had just started to rise in the early morning sky, but Hermione was awake anyhow despite her dramatic night. She had managed to fall asleep again after her nightmare, a result of emotional exhaustion, but she only got a couple of hours before her mind came alive again, still exhausted and unable to go back to sleep.

At first when she woke up, she was grabbed by a slight panic. She was disoriented and had no idea of where she was until the events of yesterday caught up with her and she remembered that this was her new rooms. She quiet liked them actually and they looked really beautiful in the early morning light.

Her new rooms… it still felt really strange to think that over the course of one night she now had a new home of sorts and a new, large family. It had all sunk in a bit more and everything felt more believable today, but her head was filled with more questions now that she had been able to process everything then she did yesterday when it was all up in the air. Sure, Snape had given her the gist of everything and what had happened yesterday, the problem was that that barley even began to cover all of the things she did want to know. She did not just want to hear about why they did what they did and why they didn't find another way, because in all honesty she would not be her if she did not ask about her family and their history as well. Hermione was smart enough to know that while her newly discovered heritage might change a few things she thought she had known, it did not change who she was. She had still been through everything that she had been through, she had still been raised in the same way she had been raised and she still liked the same things she had always liked.

Hermione pushed the covers off of her and slowly got up from the bed and buried her feet in the soft rug that covered the cold wooden floor. It was very early and she was pretty sure that she was the only one in the house, except for maybe one or two houseelves, that was awake. So why not get some of those answers right now? She walked over to the closet that Bianca had had filled with clothes and pulled on a comfortable knitted over-sized sweater with a pair of tights. All dressed and ready, she picked up her wand from the bedside table and walked out of the double doors. Now the question was where to go.

The manor was big, it was enormous, and during her grand tour yesterday not much had stuck. Most of the halls were the same. Long, light and filled with flower arrangements and different paintings. She had no idea of where she really was in relation to the dining room they had spent most of yesterday in, so she just started to walk aimlessly along the hallways until she arrived somewhere she recognised.

It was when she came to the second floor that she came to a halt in front of two beautiful, engraved doors. She could not remember seeing those during her tour yesterday and there was just something about them that drew her towards them, her curiosity and never-ending quest to know as much as possible really wanted to know what hid behind those doors. So, she found out. She pushed open one of the heavy doors and the treasure that hid behind that door stole her breath away.

The room was, like every other room in the enormous house, light with many large windows and a warm and inviting feel to it. But that is not why Hermione fell in love with it. No, she fell in love with it because of the books. Shelf after shelf, row after row were filled with books in every size, colour and subject you could possibly imagine. The selves were gathered around a collection of comfy looking sofas and armchairs that were set in the middle of the room. Not to mention the open hearth that was currently softly burning. It was beautiful and if she were to never see another room in her life, she would gladly have it be this room. She never wanted to leave the comfort of this room again.

She walked carefully and slowly around the room to take it all in, touching the spines of the books as she went. There were books in transfiguration and arithmancy she had only dreamt of reading. Never did she think she would actually encounter them in real life. She itched to read them all but she was also painfully aware that they were not hers and that she did not really have the permission to read them or to even be in this room. That notion might stop her from pulling out every book that caught her interest and putting them all in a pile to read, but it did not stop her from her perusal.

Several hours must have past when she was startled out of her euphoria by a clearing of the throat, because the room was so much brighter and she could clearly see the sun firmly placed in the sky. She spun around towards the sun and found Cassio leaning in the doorway she had entered through earlier.

"So I see you found the library at last. It's beautiful, isn't it?" his eyes glinted with something she had trouble putting her finger on.

"Yes." she sighed dreamily, still not able to get over how amazing the room was even though the man in the doorway made her slightly nervous.

Cassio was a big man and where ever he went an aura of power and brutal strength followed. It was clear that he, as so many others, had seen and been through a lot that left a dangerous glint in both his eyes and his stance. Deep down Hermione knew that she had nothing to fear from the man, he had showed her nothing but kindness since she showed up at his house yesterday, but he still made her feel nervous whenever he was in the vicinity.

"Have you found anything that's tickled your fancy?"

"Everything! There is so much I don't know where to start!" that drew out a laugh from Cassio.

"Ah yes, Severus told me about your love for books and learning. Is there one specific subject that you like more?" he left his post at the doorway and approached her over by the shelves.

"Not really, I enjoy most of them. There is really only one that I detest and that is Divination, I walked out in the middle of class once in third year and have not been back since. During the past year though I've gotten a new-found interest in potions and healing, for obvious reasons. For me it's not so much the subject itself, but the discovery of something new or solving a problem and finding answers. That is what I really enjoy."

"That's an admirable trait. May I ask why?"

"I'm not quite sure…" she pondered. "But I suspect that it has to do with the way I was brought up, outside of the magical world. I knew nothing about it when I went off to Hogwarts or what to except. And all the things I found where incredible and there is so much to find since the world is so old and rich with history. I guess I had a need to get on top of everything so I didn't feel left out or like I did not belong."

"Ah, history. That is one of my biggest vices. I fell in love with our worlds history, myths and other big events during my earlier years at Hogwarts and could not really be bothered with any of the other subjects. Luckily for me, I had two best friends whose passions laid elsewhere and who would not let me disregard them completely. Otherwise I fear that I would not have been able to graduate." he chuckled and turned towards the other side of the room. "In fact, that entire section there is completely dedicated to my first love."

"Who were your best friends, sir?" she asked as she watched him walk over to the history section.

"Why Severus and Lucius of course. Can you imagine having a future charms master and the world's greatest potion master as your tutors? I got better grades than most of our peers thanks to them."

"Were you in Slytherin too, then?" Hermione couldn't help herself, she had so many questions she wanted answers to and the man seemed more than open to give them to her.

"Yes, I was. So was Narcissa as I suspect you already know. Your mother on the other hand, she was too innocent back than for Slytherin and was a proud member of Ravenclaw. Now though, she is as cunning as the rest of us. I suppose you have to if you want to stand up to three stubborn men who all think that they know best."

He chuckled and Hermione was floored by the apparent admiration in Cassio's voice as he spoke of his wife. It might be judgemental and prejudiced, but she had always imagined pureblood marriages to be cold since most of them seemed to have been more like business mergers than anything else. It was quite obvious though that so had not been the case with her parents. They seemed to love each other very much and it was rather nice to know that she and her brother was a product of actual love and not some contract.

Cassio smiled at her like he knew exactly what she was thinking and waved her over to a wall that was filled with various frames. He pointed towards one of the frames in the middle and when she looked closely she could see that it was a picture of a young Cassio and Bianca. They were smiling and laughing together in the courtyard of Hogwarts, dressed in their school robes.

"I met your mother when I was attending my fifth year at Hogwarts and she was in her fourth year. She was assigned as Narcissa's partner in potions and they quickly became good friends. Since Narcissa and Lucius were already an item back then, the girls often joined us in the library or came to spend time with us on the grounds. The next year I gathered up my courage and asked her out. And luckily for me she did not grow tired of our antics and stuck with me ever since."

There was another picture next to the one Cassio pointed to of the three boys with their arms around each other. In the next second they were all smirking and shoving each other gently. The comradeship between them was clearly visible and it was very comfortable and playful.

"You came up with a lot of mischief? You, a professor and a stiff aristocrat?" she blurted out in disbelief, not at all aware of the subtle, innocent insults that came out of her mouth. Cassio only laughed at her tone of disbelief.

"Believe it or not my girl, we weren't always like that. Now Severus might have some dark skeletons in his closet from his early childhood that has tainted his choices at one time or another and Lucius might have played the part of a spoilt pureblood a little too well, but we have all been young and carefree once. I believe the three of us managed to give the professors a run for their money, so to speak." then he turned towards her with a pointed look, a smirk growing on his face. "A trait I believe you are familiar with."

"What?!"

"Don't try that with me! Severus told me about all of the things you and those boys got up to. Fighting a troll in the dungeon…"

"That was an accident! It found me in the bathroom and attacked me, not the other way around." she protested.

"Then how about chasing an escaped criminal while facing off with a werewolf? While only being thirteen might I add. Does that ring any bell?"

"Oh… that!" she smiled bashfully and took a seat in one of the armchairs. "Yeah, that was not so much an accident. Neither were the terrors that Umbridge had to face during our fifth year."

Cassio let out a belly laugh so loud it almost made her ears ring and looked at her with something that resembled pure affection and a touch of pride. But she could also detect a hint of worry in his eyes.

"From what I know of the woman, she probably deserved just that and more. Severus didn't care for her much, he said her methods of education was medieval." Hermione snorted.

"She's medieval period. The way she talked to people and enjoyed herself way too much during her muggleborn trials during the war."

"How would you know?" Cassio asked surprised.

Hermione stopped for a second and contemplated what she should say. Should she tell him about her time during Voldemort's terror? There was this one part of her that was screaming at her to shut down that stupid thought, it kept reminding her that she could barely think about that time so why would she want to share it with the rest of the world. Then there was this other part of her that knew that the man probably already knew some of what had happened to her and that he was aware of her nightmares, so why not get telling him about it out of the way and avoid any mishaps?

"During the war, we might have broken into the ministry with the help of a polyjuice potion and the person I transformed into was her assistance of sort. I got to witness the terror she caused first hand for about an hour, but that hour was more than enough."

"May I ask why on earth you felt the urge to break into the ministry, the centre of all the corrupt souls in Brittan, while your faces were on every wanted poster in the country?"

"We were looking for something that Umbridge had taken and that we needed to weaken Voldemort." she faltered a little in her storytelling as the scenes replayed inside her head. "We found it, but just barely made it out of there. Harry lost his temper with Umbridge just as his polyjuice was starting to wear off and got recognised."

"Is that what you were doing all that time?" he inquired. "Looking for things that could weaken Voldemort."

By the strained tone of voice Cassio was using, Hermione realised that he knew exactly what sort of things she and her two friends had been looking for. She shouldn't be surprised really, a very detailed story about The Golden Trio's so-called adventure had been published in the Daily Prophet soon after the wizarding world had started to rebuild itself. How the reporter had actually found out about the horrocruxes Hermione had no idea since no one outside of Voldemort's inner circle and Dumbledore knew about it in the first place.

Hermione only nodded to answer the man's question and started to wander around the room again. It was a preservation instinct. She knew what was coming next, she could feel it. Any question about their year out on the run inevitably led to an inquiry about her time at the mercy of the mad woman Bellatrix Lestrange. And while she was prepared, had told the story before and the fact that Cassio had watched the result of that time, she was not willing or able to look into his eyes as she told it again.


	15. Chapter 15

"Okay, that is it! Spill it!" the voice of her red-haired, ball busting best friend startled her out of the textbook she had emerged herself in.

"Geesh Ginny, don't do that!"

Hermione glared up at her friend as Ginny sat down in the chair on the opposite side of the desk, but Ginny was not that easily intimidated and simply raised her eyebrows as she leaned back in her chair. It was rather obvious to Hermione that she would not get out of here without telling Ginny what she wanted to hear. She was as stubborn as they came that girl.

"I've been patient, Hermione and so has Harry. But it has been two weeks and you haven't told us anything, you have barley talked us at all. If we ever see you, that is. So, speak!"

"What is there to say?"

"Are you kidding me?!" Ginny looked at her as if she belonged locked up in a mental institution. "How about why they gave you away or what happened after Snape and McGonagall took you away?"

What had really happened? It was still a little hazy and hard for her to phantom. She had barley progressed any of the snippets of information she had gathered up during the weekend at the Zabini mansion. While Hermione had certainly learned a lot about her newfound family, they had also learned a lot of things about her. In fact, they had probably learnt more about her than she was comfortable with at this stage. She had gone through a whirlwind of different emotions that weekend, and the storm had yet to calm down.

By the time she, Blaise and Draco had returned back to the castle, the news about her newfound parentage had reached every soul and ghost from the lowest dungeon to the astronomy tower of the castle. Everyone knew, and everyone was talking. Wherever she went in an attempt to escape the madness and collect her thoughts, people were there whispering and staring. It was starting to slowly get on her nerves and she had taken to explore the castle to find nocks and cranes to hide. She had even been forced to find a new private place amongst the rows and tombs of the library. Nothing was sacred anymore.

Ultimately, since she wanted to avoid the people and the gossip that surrounded them, it meant that she had to avoid her friends too. It seemed though like they had finally found her and that the time for hiding was over.

"Well you heard what Snape said that day, once they found out that they were having twins and saw our magic they wanted to protect us. Protect me and my magic from the hands of Voldemort."

"That doesn't explain why they didn't come and get you after it was all over though. In hindsight it might have been a good thing, since the mad man did come back, but they did not know that at the time. It's not like they didn't know who you were."

Ginny was right. That very same question had plagued her mind this past week. During the time she spent together with her newfound family she had taken any information that were given to her and she had asked questions as they had presented themselves. The subject of her adoption had never been brought up because everyone had been so busy to fill her in on all the aspects of their lives that she had missed. Somehow the reason why they had to tell her all of this had been forgotten. Hermione though was rather interested in hearing the answer to that question though.

She smiled sadly at her friend and shrugged her shoulders, not knowing what to say to that statement.

"What are they like?" Ginny asked. "Your parents, I mean."

"I don't know…" she contemplated. "Bianca seems like a very gentle woman. Talkative, bubbly. Cassio is quite the opposite really. He is rather quiet. He doesn't talk much but it's like he doesn't need to. His presence holds so much authority it's like it speaks for him. He is intriguing though, it seems like he holds a lot of knowledge and secrets. Bianca is more of an open book that is more than willing to let you in."

"Do they seem like good people? Like people you could feel comfortable with?"

"I think so. They seem normal and nothing like I first thought they would be like, they actually seem to care about each other and about me." Ginny smiled and leaned in closer across the table.

"That is a good thing, isn't it?" she inquired.

"I suppose so. I don't know."

Hermione shrugged her shoulders and looked away from her friend to focus on the work in front of her again. It was her subtle way of letting Ginny know that she was done talking and that the subject was closed. But once again her friend was not so easily discouraged.

"So, did anything else happen while you were away?" Ginny's tone of voice immediately had Hermione on the defence. That tone often meant that Ginny was up to no good, at least it was no good for the one who was on the receiving end.

"Why?" Hermione asked suspiciously. "Isn't meeting my biological family for the first time enough?"

"Right… So, you have no idea why a certain blonde Slytherin came asking for you earlier?" the look on Ginny's face was anything but funny to Hermione right now. "Because it seems to me like it is not just me and Harry that you are avoiding."

Hermione's heart stopped, if only for a second. Draco had come looking for her? The notion had tingles erupt in her stomach and a sense of warmth spread through her body up to her cheeks. She would not say that they were close. They had just started to get to know each other and despite her better judgement she felt like they had connected and that there was something between them, however insignificant it might be. His reputation amongst the girls were no secret and she knew that these feelings were probably one sided. It did not stop her from feeling happy about the fact that he came looking for her though. It was silly and she could not help it, but she would never admit to it out loud.

But why had he come looking for her then? It must mean that he at least cared for her a little bit and was concerned about her wellbeing.

"You do know!" Ginny exclaimed, and Hermione would not be surprised if the entire library had heard her. "What happened?"

"Nothing happened!"

Even though nothing did happen, the statement sounded weak to Hermione's own ears. She and Draco had just talked and hung out with Blaise. They had talked about both light and heavy things as well as laughing and joking around. So while nothing had happened specifically, the time they spent together had changed things. There was no way that Ginny was going to believe it though. Not when she did not really believe it herself.

"Oh come off it, Hermione! You two have been flirting with each other ever since we got back to school at the start of term. It has been quiet amusing to watch you try and act oblivious."

"Don't you have somewhere else to be or someone else to bother?" she asked desperately. "Like at quidditch practice or with Harry?"

"Yeah, yeah. I will leave you alone." Ginny laughed. "I didn't just come here to terrorise you though. Professor Snape wants you to come and see him in his office." with that she got up and left, leaving Hermione behind to listen to her laughter that carried throughout the library until the door closed behind her.

Hermione groaned and looked down at her books and notes that rested, forgotten, on the desk. There was no way she would be able to concentrate on her work until she had gone and seen the headmaster and found out what he wanted. Had it been anyone else that asked for her, she would have ignored the request and continued on with her stint of reclusiveness. But she had always held a huge respect for authority figures and honestly, she was a little curious of what he wanted. She had never been called to the headmaster's office before, that had been Harry's domain. She stayed for five more minutes before she packed up her things and left the library as well.

The hallways on her way towards the golden gargoyle were relatively empty, which made it easy for her to ignore the few stares that were cast her way. A few more turns and another staircase and had the gargoyle in her sight. That is when she realised that she had no idea what password was required to get through. She doubted that it would be "honeysuckle" or "sugarquill". But she didn't need to worry. As soon as she stopped in front of it, it swung aside and revealed the staircase that lead up to the office. The office however was empty and the chair behind the desk was unoccupied.

"Hello?" she slowly walked further into the room. "Professor?"

"You should really get used to calling me Severus, little girl." his deep voice travelled across the room, but she could not pinpoint the origin. "I'm to your left."

Turning to the left she spotted a gap in between the large bookshelves that covered the entire wall and walked cautiously towards it. Not only was it the headmaster's office but Snape himself was a rather imposing man and Hermione did not feel like she knew him well enough to stroll around his office.

As she walked through the gap, she found herself standing in a large potions lab that was equipped with all the latest and fanciest cauldrons and scales. Behind all that fancy equipment, the headmaster's dark hair could be seen as he stirred something in one of the many active cauldrons. It was an incredible place, almost rivalling the library she found at the Zabini manor. The room was definitely fitting for a world-class potion master.

"You wanted to see me, sir… eh Severus?"

"Come over here." he motioned her over to where he stood.

"What are you doing?"

"I am helping Madam Pomfrey to stock her supply." he said as he moved from one cauldron to another. "It's something I have always done and still do when I have the time."

Hermione sat down on an empty stool next to one of the benches and watched him work in silence. Every once in a while, he would pass her something to chop or grind and before she knew it thirty minutes had passed, and she was none the wiser as to why she was there. It wasn't uncomfortable though as she would have expected. The man could be intimidating and scare the crap out of his students, but he could also be rather pleasant to be around when he tried.

"So what have you been up to today?" he addressed her without looking up from the task at his hands.

"I have been in the library studying. Then Ginny came and disturbed me."

"Is that what you call hiding out nowadays?" he raised an eyebrow at her and Hermione could feel how the heat rose in her cheek for the second time that day, in less than an hour even. "Your brother and Draco ratted you out. Apparently, you have been avoiding them and they are worried."

"Did they talk to everybody?" she asked in exasperation.

It was sweet that they worried about her, it showed her that they cared about her wellbeing, but she did not like being talked about. Being talked about is the reason she hid away in corners and avoided being with her friends since that meant she would be surrounded by the people that talked about her.

"Are they right to be worried?" this time he did put down what he was working with to really be able to look at her. "Because I have not known you to be someone who backs down from a fight for anything."

"No, I'm fine! I just don't appreciate everyone staring at me all the time."

"So you failing to show up for almost every meal for two weeks is you being fine?" his voice grew hard. "Do you want to try again?"

Severus Snape's dark eyes were searching her face hard for any kind of sign or tell. He could clearly see that she had lost weight since it got quite obvious on her already slim form. Her quiet demeanour was another clear giveaway that she was not as fine as she claimed to be. It seemed like his inquiring eyes was all it took for Hermione to break.

"I have a trillion questions and no answers, but I don't get any time to sort through them. Everyone wants to know how I am doing all the time, but I have no idea how I am feeling. On top of that people keep whispering and I just want to ask them all to piss off and leave me alone."

"You do know that I can be assistance with some of those questions right?" he covered her folded hands with one of his to relay his message. It was his way of offering her some comfort and show her affection.

Hermione looked at the dark man in front of her. It was so strange to have the Severus Snape show her affection and once again he had gotten her to open up. But for some strange reason he made her feel comfortable and at ease around him. She also realised that this was a perfect opportunity to ask the big question that had been on her mind for most of the time this week.

"Why didn't…" she couldn't look him in the eyes when she asked him this, because to be honest she was not quite so sure she wanted to know the answer. "After the first war, when everyone thought that Voldemort was gone, why did my parents not come and get me? You obviously knew where I was?"

It was clear that her question startled him and that he did not know how to answer it either. He cleared his throat and took a seat on the chair next to hers.

"Well, you have been through a war and know what kind of damages that has to a person. We did not have it easy, your parents included, after it all ended. I figure you know that I cared very much for Mr. Potter's mother, she was my best friend, and after her death and the stress of the war I needed some time to pick myself together again, so I left for a while. When I got back things were not the same anymore… All I know is that you parents wanted to have you back home where you belonged, but something kept them. I don't know if the rumours that Voldemort was not really gone since the dark mark stayed printed on our skin or if it had something with you and your new family. Every time we would ask about you, Bianca would start crying and Cassio got this dark, haunted look in his eyes before he stormed out of the room."

"Do you think they will tell me if I ask?"

"I think there is a chance, yes. Look little girl, I know that you want all of your questions answered and preferably yesterday. But you have to accept that it is going to take a while. We are still all getting to know each other and find a new dynamic where everyone is comfortable, and nobody's boundaries are crossed."

"I know." she sighed. "I just, I don't like feeling this way."

"May I make a suggestion?" he asked. "How about not avoiding your brother and Draco, they can probably also answer some of your questions, maybe not fully, but in working on your relationship with them you will see that things start to move in the right direction."

What Severus was saying was of course very true and it made perfect sense to her, even with her currently unlogic brain. The perfectionist and control freak inside of her was just making things worse and harder for her to deal with everything.

"Now, I need to finish these potions and you need to go find your friends. Scram!"

Hermione laughed at the playful snarky tone of voice he used and got up from her seat, ready to leave his office. When she reached the gap in the wall she turned around and looked at the man that was already back to stirring one of the cauldrons.

"Thank you, Severus!" the man looked up from his cauldron and gave her one of his very rare, half smiles.

"You are very welcome."

Hermione felt a little lighter as she treaded back through the castle and her dorm where she knew she would at least find one of her friends. She was in no way immune to the stares and the whispers on the way, but they didn't rile her up as much as they had just an hour earlier. Within minutes she reached the portrait of the four founders that lead into the dorm. She spoke the password out loud and rushed through the hole but came to a stop almost immediately when she got inside.

There on one of the couches in front of the fire place sat no one other than Draco. That meant that the avoiding came to an end sooner than she had expected. Draco was not the first of her friends she wanted to run into and not alone. How was she going to act, what was she going to say? It would be easier to face him if someone else was present as well.

"Hi." she spoke, and Draco smiled as he noticed her presence.

"Hi."


End file.
